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

— Hermann Hesse, Gertrude (1910), translated by Hilda Rosner

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.”

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world.”

“Accepting the absurdity of everything around us is one step, a necessary experience: it should not become a dead end.”

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

“Something the heart must have to cherish, must love and joy and sorrow learn.”

“Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth.”

“Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.”

“Either knowledge is not to be attained at all, or if at all, after death.”