There are some authors that are extra special to us. These are the authors who helped to shape our thinking, as well as our belief systems. For me, Hermann Hesse was one of those authors. Though many people remember him for Siddhartha, the ones that are the most poignant to me are Demian and The Glass Bead Game. In honor of his birthday and all the existentialists out there, here are 20+ of my favorite Hesse quotes: I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value. If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us. One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time. Only the ideas that we really live have any value. Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can – that is their secret. Solitude is independence. Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go. There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, [...]
