1,099 Quotes by Hermann Hesse

Uit deze belevenissen, die niemand ziet, bestaat de innerlijke, wezenlijke lijn van ons lot. Zulk een breuk en scheur groeit weer dicht, hij heelt en wordt vergeten, maar in de diepst verborgen hoek leeft en bloedt hij verder.

لم أكن أحسب نفسي أديباً شاعراً. فما كنت أكتبه من حين إلى آخر كان من قبيل الصحافة المسلية، لا من الأدب. لكني كنت فيما بيني وبين نفسي أحبس أملاً في أن تتاح لي في يوم من الأيام فرصة خلق شيء من الأدب، نشيد عظيم جرئ للحنين والحياة

I don’t write literature but simply confessions, just as a drowning man or a man dying of poisoning no longer worries about the state of his hair or the modulation of his voice, but instead simply lets out a scream.

But stronger than his knowledge was his love for the boy, his devotion, his fear of losing him. Had he ever lost his heart to anybody so completely, so painfully, so hopelessly and yet so happily?

In respect to mankind we all of us have but one task. To help mankind as a whole make some small advance, to better a particular institution, to do away with one particular mode of killing - all these are commendable, but they are not my task and yours. Our task as men is this: in our own unique personal lives, to take a short step on the road from animal to man.

Ich bin ein Stern am Firmament,der die Welt betrachtet, die Welt verachtetund in der eignen Glut verbrennt.Ich bin das Meer, das nächtens stürmt,das klagende Meer, das opferschwerzu alten Sünden neu türmt.Ich bin von Eurer Welt verbannt,vom Stolz erzogen, vom Stolz belogen,ich bin der König ohne Land.Ich bin die stumme Leidenschaft,im Haus ohne Herd, im Krieg ohne Schwertund krank an meiner eignen Kraft.

...the opposite of every truth is just as true! That is to say, any truth can only be expressed and put into words when it is one-sided. Everything that can be thought with the mind and said with words is one-sided, it's all just the half of it, lacking completeness, roundness, or unity.

I closed my eyes obediently; I felt a light kiss on my lips, on which there was always a little accumulation of blood that wouldn't decrease. And then I fell asleep

The law of service. He who wishes to live long must serve, but he who wishes to rule does not live long.