Love must not entreat,' she added, 'or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself. Then it ceases merely to be attracted and begins to attract.
— Demian. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend
I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.
Emil Sinclair, the narrator of Demian, says this in the prologue before he begins his story. Hesse first published the novel in 1919 under Sinclair's name. The narrator warns that his story is not sweet or harmonious like invented ones, and argues that every life is a road toward oneself, though no one has ever become entirely himself.
Source: Demian (1919), Prologue
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Love must not entreat,' she added, 'or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself. Then it ceases merely to be attracted and begins to attract.
— Demian. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend
I believe that I am not responsible for the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of life, but that I am responsible for what I do with the life I've got.
— Verliebt in die verrückte Welt: Betrachtungen, Gedichte, Erzählungen, Briefe
I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us.
— Peter Camenzind
You've never lived what you are thinking, and that isn't good. Only the ideas we actually live are of any value.
— Demian. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend
In eternity there is no time, only an instant long enough for a joke.
— Steppenwolf
I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins.
— Siddhartha