Sri Ramakrishna Quotes and Sayings

• God alone is real and all else unreal.
   

• You all know from your experience how impermanent the world is. Look at it this way. How many people have come into the world and again passed away! People are born and they die. This moment the world is and the next it is not. It is impermanent. Those you think to be your very own will not exist for you when you close your eyes in death. Again, you see people who have no immediate relatives, and yet for the sake of a grandson, they will not go to Benares to lead a holy life.
   

• God can be realized when a man acquires sattva. Householders engage in philanthropic work, such as charity, mostly with a motive. That is not good. But actions without motives are good. Yet it is very difficult to leave motives out of one's actions.
   

• A man cannot realize God unless he gets rid of all such egotistic ideas as 'I am such an important man' or 'I am so and so'. Level the mound of 'I' to the ground by dissolving it with tears of devotion.
   

• A wife endowed with spiritual wisdom is a real partner in life. She
  greatly helps her husband to follow the religious path. After the birth of one or two children they live like brother and sister. Both of them are devotees of God. His servant and His handmaid. Their family is a spiritual family. They are always happy with God and His devotees. They know that God alone is their own, from everlasting to everlasting. They are like the Pandava brothers; they do not forget
  God in happiness or in sorrow.
   

• It is necessary for you to live in the company of holy men. First of all, the company of holy men; then sraddha, faith in God.
   

• If a mirror is covered with dirt, it won't reflect one's face. A man cannot realize his true Self unless his heart is pure. You will find guilelessness wherever God incarnates Himself as man.
   

• What will one accomplish by mere reading? One needs spiritual
  practice—austerity. Call on God.