Did Vivekananda say "The world is the great gymnasium..."?

In his words

Yes. Swami Vivekananda said this in Sayings and Utterances (Complete Works, vol 5). It is in Sayings and Utterances, a list of his sayings compiled in vol 5.

The version people share

“The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.”

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What he said

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This world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong

More in his words

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life, think of it, dream of it, live on that idea.

Do one thing at a time and while doing it put your whole soul into it to the exclusion of all else.

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Questions people ask

Is "The world is the great gymnasium..." in the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda?

Yes. Swami Vivekananda said this in Sayings and Utterances (Complete Works, vol 5). It is in Sayings and Utterances, a list of his sayings compiled in vol 5.

How do you check a Vivekananda quote?

Search a distinctive phrase in the Complete Works (Advaita Ashrama, nine volumes; the text is on ramakrishnavivekananda.info and Wikisource). If only quote sites carry it, with no volume or lecture named, treat it as unverified.

Sources and method

Matched against The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Mayavati Memorial Edition, vols 1 to 8 (9,239 paragraphs, Bengali translations checked separately), with Python difflib. In his words: 90 or more out of 100. Paraphrase: 70 to 90. Not in his works: under 70, and no hit in a phrase search of Wikisource across all volumes, including vol 9. This line scored 98.