Quotes by Herman Hesse

Ah, thought I, meanwhile, let come to me what may, for once at least, I, too, have been happy radiant, released from myself, a brother of Pablo's, a child.

"They have heard its voice and listened to it, and the river has become holy to them, as it has to me. "Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?" That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future."

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go

Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.

Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.

We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots, and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame. In the same way all disrespect for life, all hard-heartedness, all indifference, all contempt is nothing else than killing. With just a little witty skepticism we can kill a good deal of the future in a young person. Life is waiting everywhere, the future is flowering everywhere, but we only see a small part of it and step on much of it with our feet.

Being Happy- There is no duty in life except the duty of being happy. It is our only reason for being in this world. With all our duties, all our morals, all our commandments, we seldom make one another happy, because these do not make us happy. A person who is good can only be so when he is happy, when there is harmony within him, in other words, when he loves. This has been the rule, the only rule, of this world - thus taught Jesus; thus taught Buddha; thus taught Hegel. For each of us the only thing of importance in this world is his own inner self - his soul, his capacity for love. When this is working, we may be eating plain porridge or cake, we may be wearing rags or jewels - but the world will be resounding in the clear tones of the soul. It will be a good world, a world going on in proper order.

What is the holding of breath? It is a flight from the Self, it is a temporary escape from the torment of Self. It is a temporary palliative against the pain and folly of life.

You know quite well deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation... And that is called loving.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.