Quote

The difference between God and the devil is in nothing except in unselfishness and selfishness. The devil knows as much as God, is as powerful as God only he has no holiness that makes him a devil. Apply the same idea to the modern world: excess of knowledge and power, without holiness, makes human beings devils.

Swami Vivekananda

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Swami Vivekananda
Age: 39 †
Born: 1863
Born: January 12
Died: 1902
Died: July 4
Clergyman
Monk
Orator
Philosopher
Poet
Spiritual Leader
Teacher
Writer
Inglewood
California
Narendra Nath Datta
Vivekananda
Swamy Vivekananda
Narendranath Datta
World
Makes
Except
Power
Beings
Unselfishness
Ideas
Difference
Devils
Human
Differences
Apply
Humans
Modern
Holiness
Without
Powerful
Excess
Nothing
Knowledge
Selfishness
Much
Idea
Devil

More quotes by Swami Vivekananda

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No matter what that makes elastic - sharply, intellectually and sincerely, keep at bay it as noxious waste.
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My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.
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Cowardice is no virtue.
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And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature.
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Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny.
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Be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself
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There is no virtue higher than non-injury.
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Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.
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May blessings and happiness attend every step of your progress in this world.
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A wave in the ocean is a wave, only in so far as it is bound by name and form.
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To give up the world is to forget the ego, to know it not at all - living in the body, but not of it.
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A monk is not forbidden to marry, but if he takes a wife she becomes a monk with the same powers and privileges and occupies the same social position as her husband.
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Gita and Ganga constitute the essence of Hinduism one its theory and the other its practice.
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Purity, patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles. All great things must of necessity be slow.
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The Christians believe that Jesus Christ died to save man. With you it is belief in a doctrine, and this belief constitutes your salvation. With us doctrine has nothing whatever to do with salvation. Each one may believe in whatever doctrine he likes or in no doctrine.
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Let the churches preach doctrines, theories, philosophies to their hearts' content, but when it comes to worship, the real practical part of religion, it should be as Jesus says, When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.
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In nature alone are forms. That which is not of nature cannot have any forms, fine or gross. It must be formless.
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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.
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There is only one sin and it is: weakness. When I was a boy, I read Milton's Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was Satan. The only saint is that person who never weakens, faces everything, and determines die game.
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In the English character, the give and take policy, the business principle of the trader, is principally inherent.
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