1,099 Quotes by Hermann Hesse

Rain Soft rain, summer rain Whispers from bushes, whispers from trees. Oh, how lovely and full of blessing To dream and be satisfied. I was so long in the outer brightness, I am not used to this upheaval: Being at home in my own soul, Never to be led elsewhere. I want nothing, I long for nothing, I hum gently the sounds of childhood, And I reach home astounded In the warm beauty of dreams. Heart, how torn you are, How blessed to plow down blindly, To think nothing, to know nothing, Only to breathe, only to feel.

Only the ideas that we really live have any value.

Good that you ask -- you should always ask, always have doubts.

And here is a doctrine at which you will laugh. It seems to me, Govinda, that love is the most important thing in the world.

I had grown a thin mustache, I was a full-grown man, and yet I was completely helpless and without a goal in life.

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.

Theory is knowledge that doesn't work. Practice is when everything works and you don't know why.

But it's a poor fellow who can't take his pleasure without asking other people's permission.

I have always been a great dreamer. In dreams I have always been more active than in my real life, and these shadows sapped me of my health and energy.