Hermann Hesse Quotes

"Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity."

"I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."

"To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning. It is a very serious task, young man, and possibly a tragic one."

"There's no reality except the one contained within us. That's why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for reality and never allow the world within them to assert itself."

"It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is."

"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."

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

"The truth is lived, not taught."

"Happiness is a how; not a what. A talent, not an object."

"There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge - that is everywhere."

"You treat world history as a mathematician does mathematics, in which nothing but laws and formulas exist, no reality, no good and evil, no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow, nothing but an eternal, shallow, mathematical present."

"To be able to throw one's self away for the sake of a moment, to be able to sacrifice years for a woman's smile - that is happiness"

"Wisdom is not communicable."

"All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened."

"As a body everyone is single, as a soul never."

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

"The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire"

"What I always hated and detested and cursed above all things was this contentment, this healthiness and comfort, this carefully preserved optimism of the middle classes, this fat and prosperous brood of mediocrity."

"Love is stronger than violence."

"Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke."