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24 quotes
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Authenticity3 quotes
If what matters in a person's existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one's external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. — Hermann Hesse · 1910I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult? — Hermann Hesse · 1919No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that-one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Love3 quotes
Love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure. — Hermann Hesse · 1904Love must not entreat... Or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself. Then it ceases merely to be attracted and begins to attract. — Hermann Hesse · 1919As for others and the world around him he never ceased in his heroic and earnest endeavor to love them, to be just to them, to do them no harm, for the love of his neighbor was as deeply in him as the hatred of himself, and so his whole life was an example that love of one's neighbor is not possible without love of one's self, and that self-hate is really the same thing as sheer egoism and in the long run breeds the same cruel isolation and despair. — Hermann Hesse · 1927
Knowledge2 quotes
Knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom. — Hermann Hesse · 1922Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. — Hermann Hesse · 1922
Limits of language2 quotes
Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity. — Hermann Hesse · 1922Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. — Hermann Hesse · 1922
Personal growth2 quotes
If what matters in a person's existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one's external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. — Hermann Hesse · 1910No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that-one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Purpose of life2 quotes
If what matters in a person's existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one's external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. — Hermann Hesse · 1910You must find your dream, then the way becomes easy. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Self-hatred2 quotes
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. — Hermann Hesse · 1919As for others and the world around him he never ceased in his heroic and earnest endeavor to love them, to be just to them, to do them no harm, for the love of his neighbor was as deeply in him as the hatred of himself, and so his whole life was an example that love of one's neighbor is not possible without love of one's self, and that self-hate is really the same thing as sheer egoism and in the long run breeds the same cruel isolation and despair. — Hermann Hesse · 1927
Wisdom2 quotes
Knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom. — Hermann Hesse · 1922Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. — Hermann Hesse · 1922
Art1 quote
When artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the great dance of death, to make something that lasts longer than we do. — Hermann Hesse · 1930
Being true to oneself1 quote
I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult? — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Bourgeoisie1 quote
The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire. — Hermann Hesse · 1927
Creation1 quote
But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one another, and live to comfort each other. And sometimes, when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. — Hermann Hesse · 1910
Creativity1 quote
But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one another, and live to comfort each other. And sometimes, when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. — Hermann Hesse · 1910
Death1 quote
We fear death, we shudder at life's instability, we grieve to see the flowers wilt again and again, and the leaves fall, and in our hearts we know that we, too, are transitory and will soon disappear. — Hermann Hesse · 1930
Downsides of wealth1 quote
Property, possessions and riches had also finally trapped him. They were no longer a game and a toy. They had become a chain and a burden. — Hermann Hesse · 1922
Effects of the past1 quote
I cannot tell my story without reaching a long way back. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Ephemeral nature of life1 quote
We fear death, we shudder at life's instability, we grieve to see the flowers wilt again and again, and the leaves fall, and in our hearts we know that we, too, are transitory and will soon disappear. — Hermann Hesse · 1930
Existential terror1 quote
I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Facing oneself1 quote
I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Hate1 quote
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Home1 quote
One never reaches home... But wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Human potential1 quote
But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one another, and live to comfort each other. And sometimes, when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. — Hermann Hesse · 1910
Inner life1 quote
I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Interconnectedness of all things1 quote
Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Intuition1 quote
I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me. — Hermann Hesse · 1919
Living intentionally1 quote
If what matters in a person's existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one's external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. — Hermann Hesse · 1910
Loving one's neighbor1 quote
As for others and the world around him he never ceased in his heroic and earnest endeavor to love them, to be just to them, to do them no harm, for the love of his neighbor was as deeply in him as the hatred of himself, and so his whole life was an example that love of one's neighbor is not possible without love of one's self, and that self-hate is really the same thing as sheer egoism and in the long run breeds the same cruel isolation and despair. — Hermann Hesse · 1927
Loving oneself1 quote
As for others and the world around him he never ceased in his heroic and earnest endeavor to love them, to be just to them, to do them no harm, for the love of his neighbor was as deeply in him as the hatred of himself, and so his whole life was an example that love of one's neighbor is not possible without love of one's self, and that self-hate is really the same thing as sheer egoism and in the long run breeds the same cruel isolation and despair. — Hermann Hesse · 1927
Middle class values1 quote
The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire. — Hermann Hesse · 1927
Nature of reality1 quote
Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity. — Hermann Hesse · 1922