“Great things can be done by great sacrifices only. No selfishness, no name, no fame, yours or mine, nor my Master’s even! Work, work the idea, the plan, my boys, my brave, noble, good souls – to the wheel, to the wheel put your shoulders! Stop not to look for name, or fame, or any such nonsense. Throw self overboard and work…The Lord’s blessings on you all – as I believe it is already…Up, up, the long night is passing, the day is approaching, the wave has risen, nothing will be able to resist its tidal fury. The spirit, my boys, the spirit; the love, my children, the love; the faith, the belief; and fear not! The greatest sin is fear.”
(p.34-5, V.5, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji’s letter dated 28th May 1894 written to Alasinga)
“Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards…Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million gods, and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? The gods come too help only when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game…This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birth less. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave…Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are all the world. Who can help you?”
(p.461, V-1, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Swamiji’s lecture on ‘The Gita II’, delivered in San Francisco, on May 28, 1900)