There is neither reason to act, nor action to take. How then, O my friend, would I speak about victory or defeat? And there is nothing to venerate. So how would I speak about knowledge? - Avadhuta Gita.

All comes from me. All is in me. All disappears in me. This consciousness is reality. - A sloka of Mahahari.

Who are you to meddle with the world? Look after yourself first. Do you know yourself? Do you know what you really want? How can you know what the world needs when you are blind to your own true needs? First set yourself right. - Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Don't depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as your were before. Nothing changes; you only give up your body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater before death, you don't become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

It is actually the will which maintains our youth and vigor. The body should not dictate its needs to the soul. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

The proximity of happiness is as close as one's own Self; it isn't even a matter of attaining, but only of lifting the soul-shrouding veil of ignorance. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Whatever I do, I do with the greatest love that I have in me. Try this and you will see that you do not become fatigued at all. Love is one of the greatest stimulants to the will. Under the influence of love, the will can do almost anything. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

The greatest sin is to call yourself a sinner. You are a child of God. Though gold could be covered with mud for centuries, it remains gold. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

As long as you are making the effort, God will never let you down! - Paramahansa Yogananda.

You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Don't yearn for human love; it will vanish. Behind human love is the spiritual love of God. Seek that. Don't pray for home or for money or for love or for friendship. Don't pray for anything in this world. Enjoy only what the Lord gives to you. All else leads to delusion. Man has come on earth solely to learn to know God; he is here for no other reason. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Be afraid of nothing. Hating none, giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone and having but one desire - for His constant presence in the temple of your consciousness - that is the way to live in this world. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

I came for a special dispensation - the interpretation of the scriptures and giving Kriya Yoga, the key to Heaven. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Freedom means the power to act by soul guidance, obeying the soul brings liberation. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Try to remember and concentrate on all the beautiful and positive qualities of your life and do not affirm your deficiencies. The greatest enemy of yourself is yourself. You are alone responsible if you cannot get out of the ruts you have made. You must make a firm determination to do so. No one keeps you tied to destiny but yourself. The example of great men should make you begin to disbelieve that your destiny is fixed. They became great by changing their attitude. You can do the same. Usually those who have achieved great things in life have also had great failures. But they refused to be downed by them. Those who have achieved, won many battles and lost others, but they did not give in to a negative "destiny". - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Karma is best worked out by meeting pleasantly every test that comes and accepting courageously any hardships your tests impose. Meditation is an important factor in overcoming karma. Every time you meditate, your karma decreases, for at that time your energy is focused in the brain and burns up the old brain cells. After very deep meditation, you will find yourself becoming freer inside. Meditate deeply and you will erase all fears and gain the unshakable consciousness of soul freedom. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Seven Signs of Progress in Meditation (from an article by Paramahansa Yogananda)

• An increasing peacefulness during meditation.

• A conscious inner experience of calmness in meditation metamorphosing into increasing bliss.

• A deepening of one's understanding and finding answers to one's questions through the calm intuitive stare of inner perception.

• An increasing mental and physical efficiency in one's daily life.

• Love for meditation and desire to hold on to the peace and joy of meditative state in preference to attraction to anything in the world.

• An expanding consciousness of loving all with unconditional love that one feels towards his own dearest loved ones.

• Actual contact with God and worshiping Him as ever new bliss felt in meditation and in His omnipresent manifestations within and beyond all creation. 

Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time. - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Divine love is without condition, without boundary, without change. Sri Sri Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced or cried aloud.

Under the bludgeoning of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

(Source: Invictus by W. E. Henley)