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ae41af6
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He read the veinings of a leaf, the pattern on a mushroom cap, and divined mysteries, relations, futures, possibilities: the magic of symbols, the foreshadowing of numbers and writing, the reduction of infinitudes and multiplicities to simplicity, to system, to concept. For all these ways of comprehending the world through the mind no doubt lay within him, nameless, unnamed, but not inconceivable, not beyond the bounds of presentiment, stil..
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unity
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Hermann Hesse |
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5617775
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You're quite right there," he said. "I have practiced abstinence myself for years, and had my time of fasting, too, but now I find myself once more beneath the sign of Aquarius, a dark and humid constellation."
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Hermann Hesse |
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8b896bc
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I believe that the struggle against death, the unconditional and self-willed determination to live, is the mode of power behind the lives and activities of all outstanding men.
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Hermann Hesse |
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badc296
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When the world is at peace, when all things are tranquil and all men obey their superiors in all their courses, then music can be perfected. When desires and passions do not turn into wrongful paths, music can be perfected. Perfect music has its cause. It arises from equilibrium. Equilibrium arises from righteousness, and righteousness arises from the meaning of the cosmos. Therefore one can speak about music only with a man who has perceiv..
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oneness
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Hermann Hesse |
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985d7fe
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I thought of nothing but her. I expected everything from her. I was ready to lay everything at her feet. I was not in the least in love with her. Yet I had only to imagine that she might fail to keep the appointment, or forget it, to see where I stood. Then the world would be a desert once more, one day as dreary and worthless as the last, and the deathly stillness and wretchedness would surround me once more on all sides with no way out fr..
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love
fixation
infatuation
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Hermann Hesse |
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5bada04
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The world was beautiful when looked at in this way--without any seeking, so simple, so childlike.
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world
observation
simplicity
children
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Hermann Hesse |
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7e07208
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lm ywjd lHb lyj`ln s`d, bl 'n '`tqd 'n lHb wjd lybyn ln md~ qwtn `l~ lm`n@ wlHtml
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pain
strength
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Hermann Hesse |
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1ebc5e4
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But every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of every consideration. In each individual, the spirit has become fle..
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self-awareness
journey-of-life
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Hermann Hesse |
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b24ed41
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He let himself be led into the night, into the forest, into the blind secret wordless, thoughtless country.
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Hermann Hesse |
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0c134b8
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All being, it seemed, was built on opposites, on division. Man or woman, vagabond or citizen, lover or thinker -- no breath could both be in and out, none could be man and wife, free and yet orderly, knowing the urge of life and the joy of intellect. Always the one paid for the other, though each was equally precious and essential.
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yin-and-yang
intellect
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Hermann Hesse |
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a71d09b
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Here, too, I found neither home nor company, nothing but a seat from which to view a stage where strange people played strange parts.
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Hermann Hesse |
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5095cac
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The Wolf trots to and fro, The world lies deep in snow, The raven from the birch tree flies, But nowhere a hare, nowhere a roe, The roe -she is so dear, so sweet - If such a thing I might surprise In my embrace, my teeth would meet, What else is there beneath the skies? The lovely creature I would so treasure, And feast myself deep on her tender thigh, I would drink of her red blood full measure, Then howl till the night went by. Even a har..
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steppenwolf
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Hermann Hesse |
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090a57a
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It was the first rent in the holy image of my father, it was the first fissure in the columns that had upheld my childhood, which every individual must destroy before he can become himself.
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Hermann Hesse |
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813ba3f
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How I used to love the dark, sad evenings of late autumn and winter, how eagerly I imbibed their moods of loneliness and melancholy when wrapped in my cloak I strode for half the night through rain and storm, through the leafless winter landscape, lonely enough then too, but full of deep joy, and full of poetry which later I wrote down by candlelight sitting on the edge of my bed!
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Hermann Hesse |
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2d42b40
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You see, King, we have a legend - I used to believe that it was all fairy-tale rubbish and empty smoke. It is a legend about how such things as war and death and despair were common in our country at one time. These terrible words, which we have long since stopped using in our language, can be read in collections of our old tales, and they sound awful to us and even a little ridiculous. Today I've learned that these tales are all true... Bu..
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Hermann Hesse |
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a7d88f1
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I shall always remember how the peacocks' tails shimmered when the moon rose amongst the tall trees, and on the shady bank the emerging mermaids gleamed fresh and silvery amongst the rocks...
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peacock
visions
mermaids
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Hermann Hesse |
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12fcd0d
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Hyn tHtj l~ shyy' m Hjh msh thm tjdh, fhdhh lsyt mSdfh, nh rGbtk lmlHh w ndf`k lHr hm lldhn yqwdnk lyh
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Hermann Hesse |
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d0c2d64
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Faith is stronger than so-called reason.
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reason
h-h
rationality
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Hermann Hesse |
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0b7a44b
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Fate and character are different names for the same idea.
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fate
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Hermann Hesse |
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68218fa
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All over, people were seeking "freedom" and "happiness" somewhere behind themselves, out of the sheer fear of being reminded of their own responsibilities and being admonished to travel their own path."
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Hermann Hesse |
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f3b2471
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For the air of lonely men surrounded him now, a still atmosphere in which the world around him slipped away, leaving him incapable of relationship, an atmosphere against which neither will nor longing availed. This was one of the significant earmarks of his life.
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Hermann Hesse |
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1aaaedd
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And so the German spirit, carousing in music, in wonderful creations of sound, and wonderful beauties of feeling and mood that were never pressed home to reality, has left the greater part of its gifts to decay. None of us intellectuals is at home in reality. We are strange to it and hostile. Assiduous and busy, care-ridden and light-hearted, intelligent and yet thoughtless, these butterflies lived a life at once childlike and raffine; inde..
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Hermann Hesse |
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f4266db
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I don't know. I really don't know. Perhaps that would be best, I thought I wanted it myself. But today I'm no longer sure what I really want and desire. Before, everything was simple, as simple as letters in my textbook. Now nothing is simple any more, not even the letters. Everything has taken on many meanings and faces. I don't know what will become of me, I can't think about that now.
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Hermann Hesse |
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9a1df6c
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A father can pass on his nose and eyes and even his intelligence to his child, but not his soul. In every human being the soul is new
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Hermann Hesse |
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88bce5d
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knt tstTy` 'n tHwl nfsh l~ kl fkr@ mn 'fkry, w kl fkr@ mn 'fkry knt ttjsd fy hyy'th.
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Hermann Hesse |
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c6192f6
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Generalmente, los animales son tristes. Y cuando un hombre esta muy triste, no se debe a que tenga dolor de muelas o haya perdido dinero, sino porque alguna vez por un momento se da cuenta de como es todo, como es la vida y esta justamente triste; entonces se parece siempre un poco a un animal: tiene un aspecto de tristeza, pero es mas justo y mas bello que nunca.
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Hermann Hesse |
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4cb0b7e
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lHdyq@ ynqSh lshdh w lGb@ tfqd jdhbyth. w bd l`lm mn Hwly kby` ltSfyh lbDy'` mst`mlh mn l`m lmDy. bhtan khlyan mn 'y ftnh, lktb rkm mn lwrq, w lmwsyq~ Skhb mn lSryr. hkdh ttsqT l'wrq `n lshjrh fy lkhryf, lshjrh l tsh`r blmTr lmtsqT `l~ jwnbh w l blshms 'w lSqy` w l blHyh lmtsrbh tdryjyan l~ dkhlh, lshjrh l tmwt, nh tntZr
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Hermann Hesse |
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3384df1
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but what is it you wanted to learn from the teachings and teachers, and those who taught you so much, what could they not teach you?" and he concluded: "it was the i, whose meaning and essence i wanted to learn. it was the i, from which i wanted release, which i wanted to conquer. but i could not conquer it, i could only deceive it, only flee from it, only hide myself from it. truly, nothing in the world has taken up so much of my thinking ..
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Hermann Hesse |
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617a755
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The war against death, dear Harry, is always a beautiful, noble, and wonderful, and glorious thing, and so, it follows, is the war against war. But it is always hopeless and quixotic too.
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Hermann Hesse |
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0510278
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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.
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Hermann Hesse |
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8bbb556
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l'fkr lty n`yshh hy wHdh lty lh qym@.
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Hermann Hesse |
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292c604
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All I really wanted was to try and live the life that was spontaneously welling up within me. Why was that so very difficult?
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Hermann Hesse |
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7925348
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It [enlightenment] has not come to you by means of teaching! And-thus is my thought, oh exalted one,-nobody will obtain salvation by means of teachings! (character of Siddhartha, speaking to the Buddha)
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enlightenment
experience
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Hermann Hesse |
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c212f54
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Voll Bluten steht der Pfirsichbaum nicht jede wachst zur Frucht sie schimmern hell wie Rosenschaum durch Blau und Wolkenflucht. Wie Bluten geh'n Gedanken auf hundert an jedem Tag -- lass' bluhen, lass' dem Ding den Lauf frag' nicht nach dem Ertrag! Es muss auch Spiel und Unschuld sein und Blutenuberfluss sonst war' die Welt uns viel zu klein und Leben kein Genuss.
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poetry
beauty
peach-tree
blossoms
enjoyment
trees
growth
metaphors
innocence
ideas
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Hermann Hesse |
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a921ff9
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to you, differences are quite unimportant; to me, they are what matters most. I am a scholar by nature; science is my vocation. And science is, to quote your words, nothing but the 'determination to establish differences.' Its essence couldn't be defined more accurately. For us, the men of science, nothing is as important as the establishment of differences; science is the art of differentiation. Discovering in every man that which distingu..
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Hermann Hesse |
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cc2ff41
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If a person were to concentrate all his will power on a certain end, then he would achieve it. That's all.
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Hermann Hesse |
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e5ec64b
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Ask the river about it, my friend! Listen to it, laugh about it! Do you then really think that you have committed your follies in order to spare your son them? Can you then protect your son from Samsara? How? Through instruction, through prayers, through exhortation? My dear friend, have you forgotten that instructive story about Siddhartha, the Brahmin's son, whiuch you once told me here? Who protected Siddhartha the Samana from Samsara, f..
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Hermann Hesse |
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eaf0c15
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and gradually his face assumed the expressions which are so often found among rich people - the expressions of discontent, of sickliness, of displeasure, of idleness, of lovelessness. Slowly the soul sickness of the rich crept over him.
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Hermann Hesse |
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189c1d2
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it would be better for our country and the world in general, if at least the few people who were capable of thought stood for reason and the love of peace instead of heading wildly with blind obsession for new war.
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war
reason
pacifism
peace
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Hermann Hesse |
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7be62b7
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l~ lmr 'n ykwn qdran `l~ ltslsl l~ dkhl nfsh tmman mthl lslHf@.
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Hermann Hesse |
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1d6dfde
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What is the world doing? Have new gods been discovered, new laws, new freedoms? Who cares! But up here a primrose is blossoming and bearing silver fuzz on its leaves, and the light sweet wind is singing below me in the poplars, and between my eyes and heaven a dark golden bee is hovering and humming--I care about that. It is humming the song of happiness, humming the song of eternity. Its song is my history of the world.
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Hermann Hesse |
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778adca
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You will learn it,' said Vasudeva, 'but not from me. The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it too. The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it. You have already learned from the river that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek the depths.' ...Was it not a comedy, a strange and stupid thing, this repetition, this course of events in a fateful circle?... The river laughed. Yes, that was how it was...
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Hermann Hesse |
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da16c12
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When a person seeks," Siddhartha said, "it can easily happen that his eye sees only the thing he is seeking; he is incapable of finding anything, of allowing anything to enter into him, because he is always thinking only of what he is looking for, because he has a goal, because he is possessed by his goal. Seeking means having a goal. Finding means being free, being open, having no goal. You, Venerable One, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for,..
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truth
seeking
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Hermann Hesse |
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c5dbb21
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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.
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Hermann Hesse |