This is a special article of this website, here you’ll find a collection of quotations where Swami Vivekananda suggested to . . . . . . “never mind” (e.g. “never mind failure” etc)
The ideal may be far away beyond us. But never mind, keep to the ideal. Let us confess that it is our ideal, but we cannot approach it yet.
—Swami Vivekananda
- Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind. Time is infinite. Go forward: assert yourself again and again, and light must come.[Source]
- Be perfectly hopeless, that is the highest state. What is there to hope for? Burst asunder the bonds of hope, stand on your Self, be at rest, never mind what you do, give up all to God, but have no hypocrisy about it.[Source]
- Go forward, and do not pay too much attention to the nature of the work you have to do. Ask your mind if you are unselfish. If you are, never mind anything, nothing can resist you! Plunge in![Source]
- Go on bravely — never mind about designs and other details at present — “With the horse will come the reins”. Work unto death — I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work with you. This life comes and goes — wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a worldly worm. Advance![Source]
- Go on saying, “I am free”. Never mind if the next moment delusion comes and says, “I am bound.” Dehypnotise the whole thing.[Source]
- It is better to do something; never mind even if it proves to be wrong it is better than doing nothing.[Source]
- Let foreigners come and flood the land with their armies, never mind. Up, India, and conquer the world with your spirituality![Source]
- Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life, these failures. What would life be without them? It would not be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would be the poetry of life? Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow — never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more. The ideal of man is to see God in everything. But if you cannot see Him in everything, see Him in one thing, in that thing which you like best, and then see Him in another. So on you can go. There is infinite life before the soul. Take your time and you will achieve your end.[Source]
- Never mind if your contribution is only a mite, your help only a little; blades of grass united into a rope will hold in confinement the maddest of elephants—says the old proverb.[Source]
- Never mind, nothing is to last for ever.[Source]
- Never mind, pay or no pay — let it see the blaze of daylight. You will have many blessings on you and many more curses — but that is always the way of the world![Source]
- Never mind, उपेक्षितव्यं तद्वचनं भवत्सट्टशानां महात्मनाम्। अपि कीटदंशनभीरुका वयं रामकृष्ण तनयास्तदूहृदयरुधिरपोषिताः। “अलोकसामान्यमचिन्त्यहेतुकं हिन्दन्ति मन्दाश्चरितं महात्मनाम्” — Great men like you should pay no heed to what he says. Shall we, children of Shri Ramakrishna, nourished with his heart’s blood, be afraid of worm-bites? “The wicked criticise the conduct of the magnanimous, which is extraordinary and whose motives are difficult to fathom” (Kalidasa’s Kumârasambhavam.) — remember all this and forgive this fool. It is the will of the Lord that people of this land have their power of introspection roused, and does it lie in anybody to check His progress? I want no name — I want to be a voice without a form. I do not require anybody to defend me.[Source]
- Never mind the funds. . . . [Source]
- Religion, the great milch cow, has given many kicks, but never mind, it gives a great deal of milk. The milkman does not mind the kick of the cow which gives much milk. Religion is the greatest child to be born, the great “moon of realisation”; let us feed it and help it grow, and it will become a giant. King Desire and King Knowledge fought, and just as the latter was about to be defeated, he was reconciled to Queen Upanishad and a child was born to him, Realisation, who saved the victory to him.(From the Prabodha-chandrodaya, a Vedantic Sanskrit masque.)[Source]
- Struggle Godward! Never mind if you fail, never mind if you get hold of a queer theory. If you are afraid to be called queer, keep it in your own mind — you need not go and preach it to others. But do something! Struggle Godward! Light must come.[Source]
- The ideal may be far away beyond us. But never mind, keep to the ideal. Let us confess that it is our ideal, but we cannot approach it yet.[Source]
- There may be weakness, says the Vedanta, but never mind, we want to grow.[Source]
- There will be no world anywhere. Let it go and whirl into space — who cares? Stand thou in the spirit! That is the goal. We know we cannot reach it yet. Never mind. Do not despair, and do not drag the ideal down.[Source]
- This toy world would not be here, this play could not go on, if we were knowing players. We must play blindfolded. Some of us have taken the part of the rogue of the play, some heroic — never mind, it is all play. This is the only consolation. There are demons and lions and tigers and what not on the stage, but they are all muzzled. They snap but cannot bite. The world cannot touch our souls. If you want, even if the body be torn and bleeding, you may enjoy the greatest peace in your mind.[Source]
- We shall set the world on fire — let those who will, join us and be blessed, and those that won’t come, will lag behind for ever and ever; let them do so. You gird up your loins and keep yourself ready . . . . Never mind anything![Source]
- We want to get everything from nature, but we find in the long run that nature takes everything from us — depletes us, and casts us aside. Had it not been for this, life would have been all sunshine. Never mind! With all its failures and successes, with all its joys and sorrows, it can be one succession of sunshine, if only we are not caught.[Source]
- Work, work, work, even unto death! Those that are weak must make themselves great workers, great heroes — never mind money, it will drop from the heavens.[Source]