Quotessence
Home / Topics / Steppenwolf Quotes

Steppenwolf Quotes

Browse 75 quotes about Steppenwolf.

Steppenwolf Quotes

“Most men will not swim before they are able to.' Is not that witty? Naturally, they won't swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they won't think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what's more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.”

ThinkingMenMayMadeAbleEarthWaterBornOne DayWittySwimSteppenwolf
Author:Hermann Hesse
Create image

“...Haller's sickness of the soul, as I now know, is not the eccentricity of a single individual, but the sickness of the times themselves, the neurosis of that generation to which Haller belongs, a sickness, it seems, that by no means attacks the weak and worthless only but, rather, precisely those who are strongest in spirit and richest in gifts.”

KnowsMeanSoulSeemsSpiritIndividualGenerationsWeakSicknessStrongestWorthlessNeurosisEccentricitySteppenwolf
Book:Steppenwolf: A Novel
Create image

“Man designs for himself a garden with a hundred kinds of trees, a thousand kinds of flowers, a hundred kinds of fruit and vegetables. Suppose, then, that the gardener of this garden knew no other distinction between edible and inedible, nine-tenths of this garden would be useless to him. He would pull up the most enchanting flowers and hew down the noblest trees and even regard them with a loathing and envious eye. This is what the Steppenwolf does with the thousand flowers of his soul. What does not stand classified as either man or wolf he does not see at all.”

MenKindDoeSoulWould BeEyeTreeDesignFlowerThousandHundredGardenRegardFruitNineUselessDistinctionVegetablesGardenerEnviousLoathingEnchantingFruits And VegetablesSteppenwolfPull Ups
Book:Steppenwolf
Create image

“Man is not by any means of fixed and enduring form (this, in spite of suspicions to the contrary on the part of their wise men, was the ideal of the ancients). He is nothing else than the narrow and perilous bridge between nature and spirit. His innermost destiny drives him on to the spirit and to God. His innermost longing draws him back to nature, the mother. Between the two forces his life hangs tremulous and irresolute.”

MenMeanTwoFormSpiritMotherForceDestinyWiseDrawsIdealsLongingEndureContraryBridgesFixedSpiteSuspicionSteppenwolf
Book:Steppenwolf
Create image

“There was once a man, Harry, called the steppenwolf. He went on two legs, wore clothes and was a human being, but nevertheless he was in reality a wolf of the steppes. He had learned a good deal of all that people of a good intelligence can, and was a fairly clever fellow. What he had not learned, however, was this: to find contentment in himself and his own life.”

PeopleMenHumansTwoRealityHuman BeingsDealsLearningClothesFellowsLegsCleverContentmentNeverthelessSteppenwolf
Author:Hermann Hesse
Create image

“Every age, every culture, every custom and tradition has its own character, its own weakness and its own strength, its beauties and cruelties; it accepts certain sufferings as matters of course, puts up patiently with certain evils. Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap”

HumansTwoRealMatterCharacterAgeLife IsCertainSufferingCultureCoursesEvilAcceptingHellWeaknessTraditionCrueltyHuman LifeCustomsSteppenwolfTwo CulturesCulture And ReligionSufferings In LifeCustoms And Traditions
Book:Der Steppenwolf
Create image