- Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show.[Source]
- Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later.[Source]
- “Fortune favours the brave and energetic.” Don’t look back — forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience — then alone can great deeds be accomplished. We must set the whole world afire.[Source]
- Have fire and spread all over. Work, work. Be the servant while leading, be unselfish, and never listen to one friend in private accusing another. Have infinite patience, and success is yours.[Source]
- Have patience and be faithful unto death. Do not fight among yourselves. Be perfectly pure in money dealings… We will do great things yet… So long as you have faith and honesty and devotion, everything will prosper.[Source]
- He who has infinite patience and infinite energy at his back, will alone succeed.[Source]
- Infinite patience, infinite purity, and infinite perseverance are the secret of success in a good cause.[Source]
- If you have infinite patience and perseverance, success is bound to come. No mistake in that.[Source]
- Infinite patience, infinite purity, and infinite perseverance are the secret of success in a good cause.[Source]
- It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties. And this, the hardest task of all, the cutting of our way out of the net of Maya, is the work reserved only for giant wills.[Source]
- Know full well that patience is the best means of succeeds.[Source]
- Know it for certain that without steady devotion for the Guru and unflinching patience and perseverance, nothing is to be achieved. You must have strict morality.[Source]
- Love conquers in the long run. It won’t do to become impatient — wait, wait — patience is bound to give success. . . .[Source]
- No need for looking behind. FORWARD! We want infinite energy, infinite zeal, infinite courage, and infinite patience, then only will great things achieved.[Source]
- Nothing else is necessary but these — love, sincerity, and patience.[Source]
- Nothing shall be done in haste. Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.[Source]
- Persevere on, my brave lads, We have only just begun. Never despond! Never say enough![Source]
- Purity, patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles. All great things must of necessity be slow.[Source]
- Purity, perseverance, and energy— these three I want.[Source]
- Take courage and work on. Patience and steady work — this is the only way. Go on; remember — patience and purity and courage and steady work. . . . So long as you are pure, and true to your principles, you will never fail.[Source]
- The bane of sects, especially in Bengal, is that if any one happens to have a different opinion, he immediately starts a new sect, he has no patience to wait.[Source]
- The fruit falls from the tree when it gets ripe. So wait for the time to come. Do not hurry. Moreover, no one has the right to make others miserable by his foolish acts. Wait, have patience, everything will come right in time.[Source]
- This world is not for cowards. Do not try to fly. Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will and work on. Know that the mind which is born to succeed joins itself to a determined will and perseveres. You have the right to work, but do not become so degenerate as to look for results. Work incessantly, but see something behind the work. Even good deeds can find a man in great bondage. Therefore be not bound by good deeds or by desire for name and fame. Those who know this secret pass beyond this round of birth and death and become immortal.[Source]
- To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. ‘I will drink the ocean’, says the persevering soul, ‘at my will mountains will crumble up.’ Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.[Source]
- . . . Wait, my child, wait and work on. Patience, patience. . . . .[Source]
- Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.[Source]
- We have not faith, we have not patience to see this. We trust the man in the street; but there is one being in the universe we never trust and that is God. We trust Him when He works just our way. But the time will come when, getting blow after blow, the self – sufficient mind will die. In everything we do, the serpent ego is rising up. We are glad that there are so many thorns on the path. They strike the hood of the cobra.[Source]
- When you feel gloomy, think what has been done within the last year. How, rising from nothing.[Source]
The story of Narada
There was a great god-sage called Narada. Just as there are sages among mankind, great Yogis, so there are great Yogis among the gods. Narada was a good Yogi, and very great. He travelled everywhere. One day he was passing through a forest, and saw a man who had been meditating until the white ants had built a huge mound round his body — so long had he been sitting in that position. He said to Narada, “Where are you going?” Narada replied, “I am going to heaven.” “Then ask God when He will be merciful to me; when I shall attain freedom.” Further on Narada saw another man. He was jumping about, singing, dancing, and said, “Oh, Narada, where are you going?” His voice and his gestures were wild. Narada said, “I am going to heaven.” “Then, ask when I shall be free.” Narada went on. In the course of time he came again by the same road, and there was the man who had been meditating with the ant-hill round him. He said, “Oh, Narada, did you ask the Lord about me?” “Oh, yes.” “What did He say?” “The Lord told me that you would attain freedom in four more births.” Then the man began to weep and wail, and said, “I have meditated until an ant-hill has grown around me, and I have four more births yet!” Narada went to the other man. “Did you ask my question?” “Oh, yes. Do you see this tamarind tree? I have to tell you that as many leaves as there are on that tree, so many times, you shall be born, and then you shall attain freedom.” The man began to dance for joy, and said, “I shall have freedom after such a short time!” A voice came, “My child, you will have freedom this minute.” That was the reward for his perseverance. He was ready to work through all those births, nothing discouraged him. But the first man felt that even four more births were too long. Only perseverance, like that of the man who was willing to wait aeons brings about the highest result.[Source]
We have not the patience to go out and work our way out…
We have not the patience to go and work our way out. For instance, there is a fire in a theatre, and only a few escape. The rest in trying to rush out crush one another down. That crush was not necessary for the salvation of the building nor of the two or three who escaped. If all had gone out slowly, not one would have been hurt. That is the case in life. The doors are open for us, and we can all get out without the competition and struggle; and yet we struggle. The struggle we create through our own ignorance, through impatience; we are in too great a hurry. The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our own feet.[Source]
See also
- Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Love
- Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Strength
- Swami Vivekananda: Stirring Quotes and Utterances (giant version)
