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Quotes from Demian — Hermann Hesse

1877–1962 Germany

← All quotes by Hermann Hesse

28 quotes

I live in my dreams — that's what you sense. Other people live in dreams, but not in their own. That's the difference.

Demian (1919)

One of the aphorisms occurred to me now and I wrote it under the picture: "Fate and temperament are two words for one and the same concept." That was clear to me now.

Demian (1919)

The tree does not die. It waits.

Demian (1919)

I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?

Demian (1919)

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. It was a scandal that a breed of fearless and sinister people ran around freely, so they attached a nickname and a myth to these people to get even with them, to make up for the many times they had felt afraid.

Demian (1919)

I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me.

Demian (1919)

Only the ideas that we actually live are of any value. You knew all along that your sanctioned world was only half the world and you tried to suppress the second half the same way the priests and teachers do. You won't succeed. No one succeeds in this once he has begun to think.

Demian (1919)

I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?

Demian (1919)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Hermann Hesse (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.