Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hessewas a German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth2 July 1877
CityCalw, Germany
CountryGermany
capture dream finds followed happy
One can be happy when he finds his dream, but every dream has to be followed by a new one and you can't capture any of them forever.
deathly empty hateful hell ideal loneliness mask occasion torn waste
And every occasion when a mask was torn off, an ideal broken, was preceded by this hateful vacancy and stillness, this deathly constriction and loneliness and unrelatedness, this waste and empty hell of lovelenessness and despair, such as I had now t
aversion deep flee love quite resist single within
You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, single power, a single salvation... and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing el
cannot filled knowledge man sustained teach utter wisdom
Knowledge can be communicated, but wisdom cannot. A man can find it, he can live it, he can be filled and sustained by it, but he cannot utter or teach it.
insanity insane method
When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.
harmony ifs demian
You are only afraid if you are not in harmony with yourself.
loneliness self soul
We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.
time home house
One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.
witty men thinking
Most men will not swim before they are able to.” Is that not witty? Naturally, they won't swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they wont think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what’s more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.
finding-love stolen streets
One can beg, buy, be presented with and find love in the streets, but it can never be stolen.
lightning strikes steppenwolf
A mere nothing suffices — and the lightning strikes.
humility men judging
It is not for me to judge another man's life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.
university-professors two republic
... let us recall the well-known statement of a university professor in the Republic of the Massagetes: 'Not the faculty but His Excellency the General can properly determine the sum of two and two.'
agreement understanding needs
Everything is necessary, everything needs only my agreement, my assent, my loving understanding; then all is well with me and nothing can harm me.