Hermann Hesse Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. A thousand times I was ready to regret and take back my rash statement - yet it had been the truth.

2. Both the thoughts and the senses were pretty things, the ultimate meaning was hidden behind both of them... from both the secret voices of the innermost truth had to be attentively perceived. Siddhartha

3. Certamente, percebia Sidarta, êsse amor, êsse abandono cego ao filho, não passava de uma paixão, que havia nela algo muito humano, que era Sansara, fonte turva, água sombria. Mas, ao mesmo tempo sabia muito bem que aquilo tinha valor, era necessário, emanava do seu próprio ser. Cabia-lhe expiar também essa delícia, saborear também êsses tormentos, cometer também essas tolices. Siddhartha

4. E o rio prosseguia soltando risadas. Realmente, era assim! Tudo voltava, todos os sofrimentos que não tivessem encontrado uma solução final. Era preciso suportar sempre as mesmas aflições Siddhartha

5. Es ist auch überdies jammerschade, wenn ein Mensch in Verzweiflung stirbt. Die Verzweiflung schickt uns Gott nicht, um uns zu töten, er schickt sie uns, um neues Leben in uns zu wecken. The Glass Bead Game

6. He brooded on how close destruction always was to all creatures, animals as well as humans, and he realized that there is nothing we can predict or know for certain in this world except death. The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse

7. I call that man awake who, with conscious knowledge and understanding, can perceive the deep unreasoning powers in his soul, his whole innermost strength, desire and weakness, and knows how to reckon with himself. Narcissus and Goldmund

8. I do want more. I am not content with being happy. I was not made for it. It is not my destiny. My destiny is the opposite. Steppenwolf

9. I hope death will be a great happiness, a happiness as great as that of love, fulfilled love Narcissus and Goldmund

10. I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins. Siddhartha

11. If I know what love is, it is because of you.

12. If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything is tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn't there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?" Joseph Knect said to his Music Master "there is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend rather, you should long for perfection in yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived not taught The Glass Bead Game

13. In eternity there is no time, only an instant long enough for a joke. Steppenwolf

14. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect. Siddhartha

15. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it. Siddhartha

16. Let me say no more. Words do no justice to the hidden meaning. Everything immediately becomes slightly different when it is expressed in words, a little bit distorted, a little foolish...It is perfectly fine with me that what for one man is precious wisdom for another sounds like foolery. Siddhartha

17. Love must not entreat,' she added, 'or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself. Then it ceases merely to be attracted and begins to attract. Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend

18. Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding, Joseph exclaimed. If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn’t there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?The master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said: There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht - I can see that they already have begun. The Glass Bead Game

19. Oh, love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure. Wer lieben kann, ist glücklich. Über die Liebe

20. One must find the source within one's own Self, one must possess it. Everything else was seeking -- a detour, an error. Siddhartha

21. One of the disadwantages of school and learning, he thought dreamily, was that the mind seemed to have the tendency too see and represent all things as though they were flat and had only two dimensions. This, somehow, seemed to render all matters of intellect shallow and worthless... Narcissus and Goldmund

22. Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can - that is their secret.

23. She stood before him and surrendered herself to him and sky, forest, and brook all came toward him in new and resplendent colors, belonged to him, and spoke to him in his own language. And instead of merely winning a woman he embraced the entire world and every star in heaven glowed within him and sparkled with joy in his soul. He had loved and had found himself. But most people love to lose themselves. Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend

24. So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused. Siddhartha

25. The old man slowly raised himself from the piano stool, fixed those cheerful blue eyes piercingly and at the same time with unimaginable friendliness upon him, and said: "Making music together is the best way for two people to become friends. There is none easier. That is a fine thing. I hope you and I shall remain friends. Perhaps you too will learn how to make fugues, Joseph. The Glass Bead Game

26. The whole of world history often seems to me nothing more than a picture book which portrays humanity's most powerful and a senseless desire - the desire to forget. Does not each generation, by means of suppression, concealment, and ridicule, efface what the previous generation considered most important? The Journey to the East

27. There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. The Glass Bead Game

28. Times of terror and the deepest misery may arrive, but if there is to be any happiness in this misery it can only be a spiritual happiness, related to the past in the rescue of the culture of early ages and to the future in a serene and indefatigable championship of the spirit in a time which would otherwise completely swallow up the material. The Glass Bead Game

29. When you like someone, you like them in spite of their faults. When you love someone, you love them with their faults. Wer lieben kann, ist glücklich. Über die Liebe

30. Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it. Siddhartha