Ramakrishna

“When the flower bloomsThe bees come uninvited.”

“Can he rectify false weight whose own scales are uncertain? Can you enlighten your neighbor while you yourself have no light?”

“He is born in vain, who having attained the human birth, so difficult to get, does not attempt to realize God in this very life.”

“To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward or fear of any punishment in this world or the next. Work so done is a means to the end, and God is the end.”

“Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.”

“Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.”

“It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.”

“If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.”

“If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.”

“If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and slowly go on with your devotional practices without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments. Your little brain will otherwise be muddled.”

“God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.”

“God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.”

“God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole.”

“Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the body, as the tenant pays house-rent for the use of the house.”

“Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say 'I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me' free you shall be.”

“When divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.”

“As long as I live, so long do I learn.”

“You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.”

“The winds of God's grace are always blowing, it is for us to raise our sails.”