Hermann Hesse Quotes - Page 18

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I was out of my bed in one second, trembling with excitement, and I dashed to the door and into the adjoining room, where I could watch the streets below from the windows.

Hermann Hesse

Second Chance, Doors, Bed

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It was all a lie, it all stank, stank of lies, it all gave the illusion of meaning and happiness and beauty, and all of it was just putrefaction that no one would admit to. Bitter was the taste of the world. Life was a torment.

Hermann Hesse

Lying, World, Taste

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In any case, the most lively young people become the best old people, not those who pretend to be as wise as grandfathers while they are still at school.

Hermann Hesse

Wise, School, People

Hermann Hesse (1969). “Gertrude”

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You wouldn't consider all the bipeds you pass on the street human beings simply because they walk upright and carry their young in their bellies nine months! It is obvious how many of them are fish or sheep, worms or angels, how many are ants, how many are bees!

Hermann Hesse

Angel, Sheep, Nine

"Ernest Hemingway, Knut Hamsun [and] Hermann Hesse".

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Yes, I am going into the woods; I am going into the unity of all things.

Hermann Hesse

Unity, Woods, All Things

Hermann Hesse (2015). “Siddhartha: An Indian Tale”, p.103, Om Books International

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I called the world of phenomena an illusion, I called my eyes and my tongue an accident, valueless phenomena. No, that is all over; I have awakened, I have really awakened and I have just been born today.

Hermann Hesse

Eye, World, Today

"Siddhartha".

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Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose.

Hermann Hesse

Mean, Goal, Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse (1980). “Six Novels: With Other Stories and Essays”

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Deeply, he felt the love for the run-away in his heart, like a wound, and he felt at the same time that this wound had not been given to him in order to turn the knife in it, that it had to become a blossom and had to shine. That this wound did not blossom yet, did not shine yet, at this hour, made him sad. Instead of the desired goal, which had drawn him here following the runaway son, there was now emptiness.

Hermann Hesse

Running, Heart, Fighting

"Siddhartha".

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You learned people and artists have, no doubt, all sorts of superior things in your heads; but you're human beings like the rest of us, and we, too, have our dreams and fancies.

Hermann Hesse

Dream, Artist, People

Hermann Hesse (1983). “Steppenwolf”, Bantam

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If man has nothing to eat, fasting is the most intelligent thing he can do. If, for instance, Siddhartha had not learned to fast, he would have had to seek some kind of work today, either with you, or elsewhere, for hunger would have driven him. But as it is, Siddhartha can wait calmly. He is not impatient, he is not in need, he can ward off hunger for a long time and laugh at it. Therefore, fasting is useful, sir.

Hermann Hesse

Intelligent, Men, Long

Hermann Hesse (2015). “Siddhartha: An Indian Tale”, p.51, Om Books International

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He saw merchants trading, princes hunting, mourners wailing for their dead, whores offering themselves, physicians trying to help the sick, priests determining the most suitable day for seeding, lovers loving, mothers nursing their children—and all of this was not worthy of one look from his eye, it all lied, it all stank, it all stank of lies, it all pretended to be meaningful and joyful and beautiful, and it all was just concealed putrefaction. The world tasted bitter. Life was torture

Hermann Hesse

Beautiful, Meaningful, Mother

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... let us recall the well-known statement of a university professor in the Republic of the Massagetes: 'Not the faculty but His Excellency the General can properly determine the sum of two and two.'

Hermann Hesse

Two, University Professors, Republic

Hermann Hesse (2002). “The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel”, p.354, Macmillan

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But one thing this doctrine, so clean, so venerable, does not contain: it does nto contain the secret of what the Sublime One himself experienced, he alone among the hundreds of thousands. This is why I am continuing my wanderings not to seek another, better doctrine, because I know there is none, but to leave behind all the teachings and all teachers, and either attain my goal alone or die.

Hermann Hesse

Teacher, Teaching, Goal

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They slept profoundly, desperately, greedily, as though for the last time, as though they had been condemned to stay awake forever and had to drink in all the sleep in the world during these last hours.

Hermann Hesse

Sleep, Forever, World

Hermann Hesse (2013). “Narcissus and Goldmund: A Novel”, p.86, Macmillan

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Romantic souvenirs had a way of attaching themselves to one when one wanted to move on, but they were not to be taken seriously.

Hermann Hesse

Moving, Taken, Way

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All it has experienced, tasted, suffered: The course of years, generations of animals, Oppression, recovery, friendship of sun and - Wind Will pour forth each day in the song Of its rustling foliage, in the friendly Gesture of its gently swaying crown, In the delicate sweet scent of resinous Sap moistening the sleep-glued buds, And the eternal game of lights and Shadows it plays with itself, content.

Hermann Hesse

Song, Sweet, Recovery

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I sped through heaven and saw god at work. I suffered holy pains. I dropped all my defenses and was afraid of nothing in the world. I accepted all things and to all things I gave up my heart.

Hermann Hesse

Pain, Heart, Heaven

Hermann Hesse (1983). “Steppenwolf”, Bantam

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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.

Hermann Hesse

Eye, Men, Blue

Hermann Hesse (2002). “The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel”, p.55, Macmillan

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Among the letters my readers write me, there is a certain category which is continuously growing, and which I see as a symptom of the increasing intellectualization of the relationship between readers and literature.

Hermann Hesse

Writing, Literature, Growing

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For the first time in my life I tasted death, and death tasted bitter, for death is birth, is fear and dread of some terrible renewal.

Hermann Hesse

Firsts, Bitter, Birth

Ernest Hemingway, Knut Hamsun, Hermann Hesse (1971). “Ernest Hemingway, Knut Hamsun [and] Hermann Hesse”

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Among mathematicians, even in those days, the reputation of being a good Glass Bead Game player meant a great deal; it was equivalent to being a very good mathematician.

Hermann Hesse

Player, Glasses, Games

Hermann Hesse (2002). “The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel”, p.33, Macmillan

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...As every one of us knows, there are some festivals and games in which everything goes right, and every element lifts up, animates, and exalts every other, just as there are theatrical and musical performances which without any clearly discernible cause seem to ascend miraculously to glorious climaxes and intensely felt experiences, whereas others, just as well prepared, remain no more than decent tries.

Hermann Hesse

Games, Musical, Trying

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Born: July 2, 1877
Died: August 9, 1962
Occupation: Poet
Cite this Page: Citation

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