Sister Nivedita, continued...

However, Sister Nivedita gave herself completely to India, in a spirit of absolute love and respect, reserving nothing for herself. It was not as though she was innately so low keyed that she could not forcefully acquire a place for herself. As I have already indicated before, she was extremely strong willed and sometimes applied the force of her will on others. Whatever she wanted, she wanted absolutely, and if impeded or questioned in any way, she could express great impatience and irritation. Her western upbringing had taught her to assert her will, and I cannot say that it never did anyone any harm, because the forceful application of one’s ideas on someone else is never a good thing. In spite of that I will still say that her broad and liberal humanity, far outstripped her sometimes unfair forcefulness.