23 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Truth

Swami Vivekananda quotes on truth

25. Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

28. The goal of mankind is knowledge. . . . Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows,' should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

42. Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

44. 'Comfort' is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being 'comfortable.'

51. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody's property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.

68. Delusion will vanish as the light becomes more and more effulgent, load after load of ignorance will vanish, and then will come a time when all else has disappeared and the sun alone shines.

78. Every step I take in light is mine forever.

91. He whom the sages have been seeking in all these places is in our own hearts; the voice that you heard was right, says Vedanta, but the direction you gave to the voice was wrong.

94. I fervently wish no misery ever came near anyone; yet it is that alone that gives us an insight into the depths of our lives, does it not? In our moments of anguish, gates barred forever seem to open and let in many a flood of light.

105. It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.

107. Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.

115. 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 be with God. He should be a fact in the consciousness of every person.

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

122. Pray all the time, read all the scriptures in the world, and worship all the gods there are ...but unless you realize the Truth, there is no freedom.

128. Soft-brained people, weak-minded, chicken-hearted, cannot find the truth. One has to be free, and as broad as the sky.

134. Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.

157. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself:. Burst your own cocoon and come out as the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth.

168. Those who work at a thing heart and soul not only achieve success in it but through their absorption in that they also realize the supreme truth-Brahman. Those who work at a thing with their whole heart receive help from God.

170. Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.

177. We must approach religion with reverence and with love, and our heart will stand up and say, this is truth, and this is untruth.

181. We want to know in order to make ourselves free. That is our life: one universal cry for freedom.

182. What do you gain in heaven? You become gods, drink nectar, and get rheumatism. There is less misery there than on earth, but also less truth.

198. I will quote to you brethren a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest childhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: 'As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.'