Quotes by Hermann Hesse

"The only reality is the one we have inside us. What makes most people’s lives so artificial and unworthy is that they falsely regard outside images as reality and they never allow their own inner world to speak."

What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.

Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.

The world, Govinda my friend, is not imperfect, not to be seen as on a slow path toward perfection: No, it is perfect in every moment, all transgression already bears grace within itself, all little children already have the aged in themselves, all the sucklings death, all the dying eternal life.

"I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?"

"I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?"

"My real self wanders elsewhere, far away, wanders on and on invisibly and has nothing to do with my life."

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday and our present thoughts build our life tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind.

He wore his gown and walked along exactly like the other monks, but his face and his step, his peaceful downward glance, his peaceful downward-hanging hand, and every finger of his hand spoke of peace, spoke of completeness, sought nothing, imitated nothing, reflected a continuous quiet, an unfading light, an invulnerable peace.

Love must neither beg nor demand.  Love must be strong enough to find certainty within itself.  It then cease to be moved and becomes the mover.