Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Virtue

Swami Vivekananda treated the formation of character as the heart of the moral and spiritual life, and the quotes gathered here express that emphasis. For Vivekananda what the world most needs is character, those whose life is one burning love, selfless, and he held that it is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity. Virtue, in his Vedantic vision, is not conformity to an external code but fidelity to one's own deepest nature, which is ultimately divine, so that the greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. His celebrated summons, arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached, applies this conviction as a call to strenuous moral effort. Drawn from his addresses and Pearls of Wisdom, these passages tie virtue to strength, selfless love, and the patient building of character.