In this article we’ll make a collection of Swami Vivekananda‘s quotations on “Self“. Here “self” means the individual entity or “I”. Few related words are “selfishness”, “self-sacrifice”.
- All selfishness comes of holding on to the self, to this illusory self. If we know the truth that there is no self, then we will be happy and make others happy.[Source]
- At the beginning it was love for the self, but the claims of the little self made love selfish; at the end came the full blaze of light, when that self had become the Infinite.[Source]
- Buddha said, “You are best, you are real, when you are not” — when the little self is gone.[Source]
- Ethics always says, “Not I, but thou.” Its motto is, “Not self, but non-self.”[Source]
- He who gives up the little self for the world will find the whole universe his.[Source]
- Losing faith in one’s self means losing faith in God.[Source]
- Our best work and our greatest influence is when we are without a thought of self.[Source]
- Self is the death of love.[Source]
- Such a man becomes a world-mover for whom his little self is dead and God stands in its place. The whole universe will become transfigured to him.[Source]
- The more we sink the “little self”, the more God comes. Let us get rid of the little “I” and let only the great “I” live in us.[Source]
- There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself.[Source]
- There is the real “me” which nothing can destroy, and there is the phenomenal “me” which is continually changing and disappearing.[Source]
- This little puny self must be sacrificed.[Source]
- This little separate self must die.[Source]
- This self is but the shadow of that real Self which is behind.[Source]
- Until we can free ourselves from nature, we are slaves; as she dictates so we must go.[Source]
- We colour everything with our own selves.[Source]
- Whenever you think of yourself, you are bound to feel restless.[Source]
- Your life is not without cause, and you are the cause. You manufacture your own life all the time. … You make and mould your own life. You are responsible for yourself. Do not lay the blame upon anybody, any Satan.[Source]
