1. “One cannot be spiritual as long as one has shame, hatred, or fear.” – Ramakrishna
2. “Let’s not go into the past.” – Ramakrishna
3. “As long as I live, so long do I learn.” – Ramakrishna
4. “The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.” – Ramakrishna
5. “Different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God.” – Ramakrishna
6. “The doubts of the mind will not disappear without His grace. Doubts do not disappear without Self-realization.” – Ramakrishna
7. “To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward.” – Ramakrishna
8. “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.” – Ramakrishna
9. “Bondage and Liberation are of the mind alone.” – Ramakrishna
10. “A man is truly free, even here in this embodied state, if he knows that God is the true agent and he by himself is powerless to do anything.” – Ramakrishna
11. “Why does God allow evil in the world? To thicken the plot.” – Ramakrishna
12. “The supreme purpose and goal for human life… is to cultivate love.” – Ramakrishna
13. “If you want to go east, don’t go west.” – Ramakrishna
14. “The man coming down from samādhi perceives that it is Brahman that has become the ego, the universe, and all living beings. This is known as vijnāna.” – Ramakrishna
15. “God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.” – Ramakrishna
16. “We laugh at the efforts of the musk deer to find the source of the scent which comes from itself and despair at our efforts to find the peace which is our essence.” – Ramakrishna
17. “Whoever wants God intensely, finds Him. Go and verify it in your own life.” – Ramakrishna
18. “The breeze of grace is always blowing; set your sail to catch that breeze.” – Ramakrishna
19. “A man must prepare the way beforehand, so that he may think of God in the hour of death. The way lies through constant practice. If a man practises meditation on God, he will remember God even on the last day of his life.” – Ramakrishna
20. “If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.” – Ramakrishna
21. “It is necessary to pray to Him, with a longing Heart.” – Ramakrishna
22. “God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.” – Ramakrishna
23. “Once a person has faith, he has achieved everything.” – Ramakrishna
24. “A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in boat. A spiritual aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him.” – Ramakrishna
25. “Through selfless work, love of God grows in heart.” – Ramakrishna
26. “If you spent one-tenth of the time you devoted to distractions like chasing women or making money to spiritual practice, you would be enlightened in a few years.” – Ramakrishna
27. “The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.” – Ramakrishna
28. “Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.” – Ramakrishna
29. “If you see someone engaged in reasoning even after he has realized God, you may liken him to a bee, which also buzzes a little even while sipping honey from a flower.” – Ramakrishna
30. “Finish the few duties you have at hand, and then you will have peace.” – Ramakrishna
31. “The compassion that you see in the kindhearted is God’s compassion. He has given it to them to protect the helpless.” – Ramakrishna
32. “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.” – Ramakrishna
33. “It is the mind that makes one wise or ignorant, bound or emancipated.” – Ramakrishna
34. “If diving once does not bring you pearls, you need not therefore conclude that the sea is without them.” – Ramakrishna
35. “The winds of God’s grace are always blowing, it is for us to raise our sails.” – Ramakrishna
36. “The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but he cannot do so when the clouds shut out his rays. Similarly as long as egotism veils the heart, God cannot shine upon it.” – Ramakrishna
37. “Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and goes off with the sugar grain; so pious men lift the good from the bad.” – Ramakrishna
38. “The fabled musk deer searches the world over for the source of the scent which comes from itself.” – Ramakrishna
39. “There is no hope for a worldly man if he is not sincerely devoted to God.” – Ramakrishna
40. “As you advance nearer and nearer to God, He will reduce your activities little by little. Have no fear.” – Ramakrishna
41. “The way of love is as true as the way of knowledge. All paths ultimately lead to the same Truth. But as long as God keeps the feeling of ego in us, it is easier to follow the path of love.” – Ramakrishna
42. “It is not lust alone that one should be afraid of in the life of the world. There is also anger. Anger arises when obstacles are placed in the way of desire.” – Ramakrishna
43. “That knowledge which purifies the mind and heart alone is true Knowledge, all else is only a negation of Knowledge.” – Ramakrishna
44. “Who is whose Guru? God alone is the guide and Guru of the universe.” – Ramakrishna
45. “Knowledge leads to unity, but ignorance to diversity.” – Ramakrishna
46. “If you meditate on your ideal, you will acquire its nature. If you think of God day and night, you will acquire the nature of God.” – Ramakrishna
47. “Do not seek illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond.” – Ramakrishna
48. “What is the use of merely listening to lectures? The real thing is practice.” – Ramakrishna
49. “All troubles come to an end when the ego dies.” – Ramakrishna
50. “Do yourself what you wish others to do.” – Ramakrishna
51. “The world is impermanent. One should constantly remember death.” – Ramakrishna
52. “So many religions, so many paths to reach the one and the same goal.” – Ramakrishna
53. “The Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself.” – Ramakrishna
54. “Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.” – Ramakrishna
55. “The fool who repeats again and again: “I am bound, I am bound,” remains in bondage. He who repeats day and night: “I am a sinner, I am a sinner,” becomes a sinner indeed.” – Ramakrishna
56. “The grace of God is a wind which is always blowing.” – Ramakrishna
57. “The tree laden with fruits always bends low. If you wish to be great, be lowly and meek.” – Ramakrishna
58. “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.” – Ramakrishna
59. “All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea. They all are one.” – Ramakrishna
60. “The magnetic needle always points to the north, and hence it is that sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness.” – Ramakrishna
61. “When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.” – Ramakrishna
62. “When divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.” – Ramakrishna
63. “It is on account of the ego that one is not able to see God. In front of the door of God’s mansion lies the stump of ego. One cannot enter the mansion without jumping over the stump.” – Ramakrishna
64. “Common men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practise even a grain of it. The wise man speaks a little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in action.” – Ramakrishna
65. “When you meditate, go into the solitude of a forest, or a quiet corner, and enter into the chamber of your heart. And always keep your power of discrimination awake.” – Ramakrishna
66. “Ours’ is good; it is not good to say ‘mine’. People say ‘I’ and ‘mine’; they are egotistic, small-minded people.” – Ramakrishna
67. “Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.” – Ramakrishna
68. “Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then through His grace one realizes Him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to Him as I am talking to you.” – Ramakrishna
69. “Man suffers through lack of faith in God.” – Ramakrishna
70. “If there are errors in other religions, that is none of our business. God, to whom the world belongs, takes care of that.” – Ramakrishna
71. “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.” – Ramakrishna
72. “Live in the world like a waterfowl. The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.” – Ramakrishna
73. “Why should you renounce everything? You are all right as you are, following the middle…” – Ramakrishna
74. “One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of a lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but the lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked as well as on the virtuous.” – Ramakrishna
75. “You should not feel that your path is the only right path and that other paths are wrong. You mustn’t bear malice toward others.” – Ramakrishna
76. “So long as God seems to be outside and far away, there is ignorance.” – Ramakrishna
77. “What Brahman is cannot be described. All things in the world — the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems of philosophy — have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue, for they have been read or uttered by the tongue. Only one thing has not been defiled in this way, and that is Brahman. No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is.” – Ramakrishna
78. “Imagine a limitless expanse of water: above and below, before and behind, right and left, everywhere there is water. In that water is placed a jar filled with water. There is water inside the jar and water outside, but the jar is still there. The ‘I’ is the jar.” – Ramakrishna
79. “You speak of doing good to the world. Is the world such a small thing? And who are you, pray, to do good to the world? First realise God, see Him by means of spiritual discipline. If He imparts power you can do good to others; otherwise not.” – Ramakrishna
80. “Spirituality automatically leads to humility. When a flower develops into a fruit, the petals drop off on its own. When one becomes spiritual, the ego vanishes gradually on its own. A tree laden with fruits always bends low. Humility is a sign of greatness.” – Ramakrishna
81. “Make your meditation a continuous state of mind. A great worship is going on all the time, so nothing should be neglected or excluded from your constant meditative awareness.” – Ramakrishna
82. “One cannot attain divine knowledge till one gets rid of pride. Water does not stay on the top of a mound; but into low land it flows in torrents from all sides.” – Ramakrishna
83. “You should love everyone because God dwells in all beings.” – Ramakrishna