This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others. The rest are more dead than alive.
(p.363, V.4, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,written from Chicago to H.H the Maharaja of Mysore on June23, 1894.)
Be brave and be sincere; then follow any path with devotion, and you must reach the Whole. Once lay hold of one link of the chain, and the whole chain must come by degrees. Water the roots of the tree and the whole tree is watered; getting the Lord, we get all.
(p.6, V.7, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Inspired Talks.)