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About this quote

What does it mean?
True knowledge comes only from direct experience. There is no shortcut to knowing.
In plain terms
You can only learn by experiencing things yourself.
What can you take from it?
Seek direct experience to gain real understanding.

Where it applies

  • education
  • skill acquisition
  • self-improvement

Putting it to work

  • practice
  • experimentation

Questions to consider

  • What must you experience to truly know?
  • How do you learn best?

Another view

Learning from others can still be valuable.

More from Swami Vivekananda

  1. Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom. If we can bring ourselves down by our karma, surely it is in our power to raise ourselves by our own karma.

    Permalink to quote #106
  2. Learning and wisdom are superfluities, the surface glitter merely, but it is the heart that is the seat of all power.

    Permalink to quote #108
  3. It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.

    Permalink to quote #105

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