“Only the ideas that we actually live are of any value.”

— Hermann Hesse, Demian (1919), p. 146

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.”

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

“Life is our dictionary.”

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.”

“If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.”

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”