WHETHER WE BE TEN OR TWO, DO NOT CARE, BUT THOSE FEW MUST BE PERFECT CHARACTERS

Our fellows in this respect are the enfranchised negroes of this country — if but one amongst them rises to greatness, all the others would at once set themselves against him and try to level him down by making a common cause with the whites. . . .

At any cost, any price, any sacrifice, we must never allow that to creep in among ourselves. Whether we be ten or two, do not care, but those few must be perfect characters. . . . "It is not good to ask of one's father if the Lord keeps His promise (to look after His devotees)." And the Lord will do so, get your minds easy on that score. . . .

- Swami Vivekananda
541 DEARBORN AVENUE, CHICAGO, (Beginning of?) 1894.C/O GEORGE W. HALE, ESQ., The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/LIV Swami Ramakrishnanda