I have come to this conclusion that there is only one country in the world which understands religion — it is India; that with all their faults the Hindus are head and shoulders above all other nations in morality and spirituality; and that with proper care and attempt and struggle of all her disinterested sons, by combining some of the active and heroic elements of the West with the calm virtues of the Hindus, there will come a type of men far superior to any that have ever been in this world.
(p. 322, V.8, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji’s letter to Haridas Viharidas Desai in Sept. 1894)
What if you don’t get Mukti? What childish prattle! Lord! They say even the venom of a snake loses its power by firmly denying it. Isn’t it true? What queer humility is this to say, “I know nothing!” “I am nothing!” This is pseudo-renunciation and mock – modesty, I tell you. Off with such a self-debasing spirit! “If I do not know, who on earth does!” What have you been doing so long if you now plead ignorance? These are the words of an atheist — the humility of a vagabond wretch. We can do everything, and will do everything! He who is fortunate enough will heroically join us, letting the worthless mew like cats from their corner. A saint writes, “Well, you have had enough of blazoning. Now come back home.” I would have called him a man if he could build a house and call me. Ten years’ experience of such things has made me wiser. I am no more to be duped by words. Let him who has courage in his mind and love in his heart come with me. I want none else. Through Mother’s grace, single-handed I am worth a hundred thousand now and will be worth two millions. . . .
There is no certainty about my going back to India. I shall have to lead a wandering life there also, as I am doing here. But here one lives in the company of scholars, and there one must live among fools — there is this difference as of the poles. People of this country organise and work, while our undertakings all come to dust clashing against laziness — miscalled “renunciation”– and jealousy, etc.
(p.315, V.6, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji’s letter to Swami Brahmananda in September 1895)