An enlightened man had but one duty - to seek the way to himself, to reach inner certainty, to grope his way forward, no matter where it led. Hermann Hesse More Quotes by Hermann Hesse More Quotes From Hermann Hesse The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire. Hermann Hesse liberty fire comfort Oh, love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure. Hermann Hesse endure life believe We fear death, we shudder at life's instability, we grieve to see the flowers wilt again and again, and the leaves fall, and in our hearts we know that we, too, are transitory and will soon disappear. When artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the great dance of death, to make something last longer than we do. Hermann Hesse flower heart fall Siddhartha has one single goal-to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow-to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought-that was his goal. Hermann Hesse self dream heart I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me. Hermann Hesse stars teaching book All life was a breath exhaled by God. All dying was a breath inhaled by God. Hermann Hesse dying suffering life-is Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity. When the Illustrious Buddha taught about the world, he had to divide it into Samsara and Nirvana, illusion and truth, into suffering and salvation. One cannot do otherwise, there is no other method for those who teach. But the world itself, being in and around us, is never one-sided. Never is a man or a deed wholly Samsara or wholly Nirvana; never is a man wholly a saint or a sinner. This only seems so because we suffer the illusion that time is something real. Hermann Hesse real spiritual men A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening... Hermann Hesse heart tree wind The highest art... sets down its creations and trusts in their magic, without fear of not being understood. Hermann Hesse magic trust art And some day there will be nothing left of everything that has twisted my life and grieved it and filled me so often with such anguish. Some day, with the last exhaustion, peace will come and the motherly earth will gather me back home. It won't be the end of things, only a way of being born again, a bathing and a slumbering where the old and the withered sink down, where the young and new begin to breathe. Then, with other thoughts, I will walk along streets like these, and listen to streams, and overhear what the sky says in the evening, over and over and over. Hermann Hesse earth home sky Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again. Hermann Hesse unique inspirational men We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps. Hermann Hesse buddhism circles yoga The best weapons against the infamies of life are courage, wilfulness and patience. Courage strenthens, wilfulness is fun and patience provides tranquility. Hermann Hesse weapons fun life I hope death will be a great happiness, a happiness as great as that of love, fulfilled love Hermann Hesse hope-death fulfilled happiness When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane. Hermann Hesse method insane insanity Let me say no more. Words do no justice to the hidden meaning. Everything immediately becomes slightly different when it is expressed in words, a little bit distorted, a little foolish...It is perfectly fine with me that what for one man is precious wisdom for another sounds like foolery. Hermann Hesse sound justice men Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother. Hermann Hesse path mother steps There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Hermann Hesse boys book ideas Each man's life represents a road toward himself. Hermann Hesse journey discovery men He had loved and he had found himself. Most people love to lose themselves. Hermann Hesse loses found people