“A man cannot live intensely except at the cost of the self.”

— Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf (1927)

About Hermann Hesse

1877 – 1962

German-Swiss novelist and poet, Nobel laureate in Literature (1946), author of "Siddhartha" and "Steppenwolf".

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

“Oh, love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure.”

“I have never lost the feeling of contradiction that lies behind all knowledge.”

“That which I am, I am; I did not seek for life, nor did I make myself.”

“Writing is the only way I have to explain my own life to myself.”

“Ask yourself at every moment, "Is this necessary?"”

“Each of us lives only now, this brief instant.”

“Life is our dictionary.”

“Up! mind thine own aim, and God speed the mark!”