Quotations from

Hermann Hesse

About

Picture of Hermann Hesse

Hermann Karl Hesse (German: [ˈhɛʁman ˈhɛsə] ; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet and novelist, and winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. His interest in Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions, combined with his involvement with Jungian analysis, helped shape his literary work. His best-known novels include Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality.

from Wikipedia

Quotes from Hermann Hesse

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

—Hermann Hesse

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.

—Hermann Hesse

We should remember that it is easy and foolish to sneer at the mistakes or barbarities of remote ages.

—Hermann Hesse

Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.

—Hermann Hesse

A man who is "ill-adjusted to the world" is always on the point of finding himself. One who is adjusted to the world never finds himself, but gets to be a cabinet minister.

—Hermann Hesse

Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.

—Hermann Hesse

When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.

—Hermann Hesse

A man's character is his fate.

—Hermann Hesse

If my life were not a dangerous, painful experiment, if I did not constantly skirt the abyss and feel the void under my feet, my life would have no meaning and I would not have been able to write anything.

—Hermann Hesse

Soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than violence.

—Hermann Hesse