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Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse Quotes

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Famous Hermann Hesse Quotes

“If I were poet now, I would not resist the temptation to trace my life back through the delicate shadows of my childhood to the precious and sheltered sources of my earliest memories. But these possessions are far too dear and sacred for the person I now am to spoil for myself. All there is to say of my childhood is that it was good and happy. I was given the freedom to discover my own inclinations and talents, to fashion my inmost pleasures and sorrows myself and to regard the future not as an alien higher power but as the hope and product of my own strength.”

IfsPersonsGivenMemoriesMy OwnPleasureChildhoodTalentFashionPoetProductsSourceHigherSorrowShadowRegardSacredDearPossessionTemptationAliensDelicateInclinationSpoilHigher Power
Author:Hermann Hesse
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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.”

IfsMenNeedsKindLongTodayWaitingCan DoLaughingLong TimeIntelligentHungerDrivenInstanceElsewhereImpatientFastingSiddhartha
Book:Siddhartha: An Indian Tale
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“If a bell failed to ring, if a stove smoked, if a wheel on a machine stuck, you knew at once where to look and did so with alacrity; you found the defect and knew how to cure it. But the thing within you, the secret mainspring that alone gave meaning to life, the thing within us that alone is living, alone is capable of feeling pleasure and pain, of craving happiness and experiencing it- that was unknown. You knew nothing about that, nothing at all, and if the mainspring failed there was no cure. Wasn't it insane?”

IfsLooksFeelingsPainFoundPleasureSecretCapableMachinesRingsStuckInsaneCuresWheelsBellsWithin YouDefectsCravingPain And PleasureMeaning LifeStovesLiving AloneAlacrity
Book:Kingsor's Last Summer
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“If a night-moth were to concentrate its will on flying to a star or some equally unattainable object, it wouldn't succeed. Only, it wouldn't even try in the first place. A moth confines its search to what has sense and value for it, what it needs, what is indispensable to its life... if I imagined that I wanted under all circumstances to get to the North Pole, then to achieve it I would have to desire it strongly enough that my whole being was ruled by it. But if I were to decide to will that the pastor should stop wearing his glasses, it would be useless. That would be making a game of it.”

IfsNeedsShouldTryingFirstsEnoughWholeWould BeWantedDesireNightValuesGamesStarsAchieveObjectsCircumstancesSucceedGlassesFlyingUselessPastorIndispensableUnattainableMothsNorth Pole
Author:Hermann Hesse
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“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”

IfsKnowsLoveLifeLove IsLove YouTrue LoveCrushInspirational LoveRomantic LoveSoulmateOne LoveI Love YouWhat You LoveGreat LoveAnniversaryBest LoveBeing LovedHeart LoveI Love HimI Loved YouSay I Love YouPerfect LoveWhat Is LoveCute LoveShort LoveInspiring LoveTime And LoveMy Love For YouBecause Of YouLove For HerRomantic Love YouHearts And LoveRomantic I Love YouWay Of LoveTrue Love Is ForeverShort RomanticExpressing LoveI Love You BecauseShort Cute LoveHim And HerI Love You LikeShort Romantic LoveDeep RomanticCute RomanticShort And Sweet LoveSimply LoveShort Sweet LoveLove LineLove Being With YouRomantic CoupleTouching YouUnique LoveCute Sweet LoveShort Inspirational LoveTouching LoveGirl You LoveI Know You Love Me
Author:Hermann Hesse
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“The diabolical thing about melancholy is not that it makes you ill but that it makes you conceited and shortsighted; yes almost arrogant. You lapse into bad taste, thinking of yourself as Heine's Atlas, whose shoulders support all the world's puzzles and agonies, as if thousands, lost in the same maze, did not endure the same agonies.”

IfsThinkingWorldLostSupportTasteEndureIllShouldersMelancholyArrogantAgonyPuzzlesMazesConceitedLapsesBad TasteAtlasDiabolicalThinking Of Yourself
Author:Hermann Hesse
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“People know, or dimly feel, that if thinking is not kept pure and keen, and if respect for the world of mind is no longer operative, ships and automobiles will soon cease to run right, the engineer's slide rule and the computations of banks and stock exchanges will forfeit validity and authority, and chaos will ensue.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldFeelsMindRunningPureAuthorityChaosCeaseShipsEngineersSlidesAutomobileValidityForfeitComputationStock Exchange
Book:The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel
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“A game master or teacher who was primarily concerned with being close enough to the "innermost meaning" would be a very bad teacher. To be candid, I myself, for example, have never in my life said a word to my pupils about the "meaning" of music; if there is one it does not need my explanations. On the other hand I have always made a great point of having my pupils count their eighths and sixteenths nicely. Whatever you become, teacher, scholar, or musician, have respect for the "meaning" but do not imagine that it can be taught.”

IfsNeedsDoeMadeSaidEnoughHandsWould BeGamesTeacherImagineExampleTaughtMastersMusicianConcernedExplanationScholarImagine ThatPupilsCandidBad Teacher
Book:The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel
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“Oh, if I had had a friend at this moment, a friend in an attic room, dreaming by candlelight and with a violin lying ready at his hand! How I should have slipped up to him in his quiet hour, noiselessly climbing the winding stair to take him by surprise, and then with talk and music we should have held heavenly festival throughout the night!”

IfsShouldMomentsDreamHandsLyingNightHoursRoomsReadyQuietShould HaveSurpriseHeavenlyClimbingFestivalsStairsViolinAtticsCandlelight
Book:Steppenwolf: A Novel
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“He looked around, as if he was seeing the world for the first time. Beautiful was the world, colorful was the world, strange and mysterious was the world! Here was blue, here was yellow, here was green, the sky and the river flowed, the forest and the mountains were rigid, all of it was beautiful, all of it was mysterious and magical, and in its midst was he, Siddhartha, the awakening one, on the path to himself.”

IfsWorldFirstsBeautifulPathSeeingSkyStrangeMountainFirst TimeRiversBlueGreenAwakeningForestsMysteriousMidstYellowColorfulSeeing The WorldSiddhartha
Book:Siddhartha
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