“Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and the sun will rise for you.”

Liberty is the first condition of growth. It is wrong, a thousand times wrong, if any of you dares to say, ‘I will work out the salvation of this woman or child.

Purity, patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles. All great things must of necessity be slow.

Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in man.

Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole Soul into it to the exclusion of all else.

Have faith in yourself. You people were once the Vedic Rishis. Only, you have come in different forms, that’s all. I see it clear as daylight that you all have infinite power in you. Rouse that up; arise, arise – apply yourselves heart and soul, gird up your loins.

To get any reason out of the mass of incongruity we call human life, we have to transcend our reason, but we must do it scientifically, slowly, by regular practice, and we must cast off all superstition.

As soon as extreme attachment comes, a man loses himself, he is no more master of himself, he is a slave.

He whose book of the heart has been opened needs no other books.

My children, the secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice.

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.

If in this hell of a world one can bring a little joy and peace even for a day into the heart of a single person, that much alone is true; this I have learnt after suffering all my life; all else is mere moonshine.

Do not desire, for what you desire you get, and with it comes terrible bondage. It is nothing but bringing “noses on us,” as in the case of the man who had three boons to ask. We never get freedom until we are self-contained. “Self is the Saviour of self, none else.”

Man makes the mistake of separating himself from God and identifying himself with the body.

Everything is easy when you are busy. But nothing is easy when you are lazy.

The attempt is to kill the false “I”, so that the real “I”, the Lord, will reign. “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” say the Hebrew scriptures.

What we call powers, secrets of nature, and force, are all within. In the external world are only a series of changes.

On no subject are our ideas more warped and pitiable than on death.

I never liked the idea of being a rebel.

We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and thy’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.

The great thing about marriage is the idea of really getting to know someone. And really getting to know a woman is a life long task.

Rest, nature, books, music – such is my idea of happiness.

The personal encounter with refugees dispels fears and distorted ideologies and becomes a factor for growth in humanity.

Be open to new information and ideas.

Great minds talk about ideas; small minds talk about people.