"Civilizations have arisen in other parts of the world.

The statue of Swami Vivekananda in India’s Parliament House

"Civilizations have arisen in other parts of the world. In ancient and modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another...But mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood..... Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows. This, many other nations have taught; but India for thousands of years peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist... Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her, but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live....!"

"I loved my motherland dearly before I went to America and England. After my return, every particle of dust of this land seems sacred to me."

The national ideals of India are Renunciation and Service. Intensity in those channels, and the rest will take care of itself.

Swami Vivekananda.