Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Self-faith is a prerequisite for having faith in God and advancing in life.
In plain terms
You must believe in yourself before you can believe in God.
What can you take from it?
Self-faith precedes faith in God.

Where it applies

  • personal growth
  • spiritual practice
  • leadership

Putting it to work

  • self-affirmation
  • confidence building
  • spiritual practice

Questions to consider

  • Do you have faith in yourself?
  • How does self-belief affect your spiritual life?

Another view

Some traditions argue faith in God must come before self-faith.

More from Swami Vivekananda

  1. One who leans on others cannot serve the God of Truth.

    Permalink to quote #116
  2. Our supreme duty is to advance toward freedom-physical, mental, and spiritual-and help others to do so.

    Permalink to quote #118
  3. No authority can save us, no beliefs. If there is a God, all can find Him. No one needs to be told it is warm; all can discover it for themselves. So it should…

    Permalink to quote #115

Related quotes

  1. That God of the clergymen, He is for me as dead as a doornail. But am I an atheist for all that? The clergymen consider me as such - be it so; but I love, and …

    Vincent Willem Van GoghVincent Willem Van Gogh quote #1
  2. A disciple said to him, 'I am ready, in the quest for God, to give up anything: wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?'…

    Anthony de MelloAnthony de Mello quote #1
  3. Regeneration is the fountain; sanctification is the river (in deeper or shallower degree). 'Entire sanctification' is the river in fullest flow.

    J. Sidlow BaxterJ. Sidlow Baxter quote #1