National Youth Day: 15 Inspirational Quotes by Swami Vivekananda

One of the most influential people in the modern India, Swami Vivekananda's 153rd birth anniversary is being celebrated all over the country on Tuesday, Jan 12.

The monk, who helped Hinduism in gaining the global status in the 19th century, remains the ideal role model and an inspiration to millions of youth, who follow his teachings.

Stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo, Bipin Chandra Pal, Vinoba Bhave, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatama Gandhi and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were also highly influenced by his teachings. [Install Swami Vivekananda in your head and soul: PM Modi]

Vivekananda, who was born on Jan 12, as Narendra Nath Datta in Calcutta, is also an inspiring soul for various political leaders like PM Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev and social activist Anna Hazare are also among the ardent followers of Swami Vivekananda.

In Nov 2010, the US President Barack Obama also mentioned about Vivekananda during a speech in India. Vivekananda left for the heavenly abode on July 4, 1902 at the age of 39 at Belur Math near Kolkata in West Bengal and his legacy is kept alive by the Indian government in the form of 'National Youth Day'. [Why is National Youth Day celebrated on Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary?: Explained]

Let's take a look at the best Top 15 inspirational Quotes by the legendary and world renowned monk Swami Vivekananda:

• All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
• We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
• Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
• All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
• If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.
• You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
• The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
• Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
• As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God.
• When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.
• That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.
• The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
• Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
• Condemn none: If you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers and let them go their own way.
• Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.