Siddhartha Quotes

“When someone seeks," said Siddhartha, "then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.”
― Herman Hesse, Siddhartha

“I have always thirsted for knowledge, I have always been full of questions.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Most people...are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path.”
― Hermann Hesse

“Dreams and restless thoughts came flowing to him from the river, from the twinkling stars at night, from the sun's melting rays. Dreams and a restlessness of the soul came to him.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Whether it is good or evil, whether life in itself is pain or pleasure, whether it is uncertain-that it may perhaps be this is not important-but the unity of the world, the coherence of all events, the embracing of the big and the small from the same stream, from the same law of cause, of becoming and dying.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“...and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart was not still.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“...for you know that soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than force." Vesadeva to Siddartha”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“I felt knowledge and the unity of the world circulate in me like my own blood.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Siddhartha has one single goal-to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow-to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought-that was his goal.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge-that is everywhere, that is Atman, that is in me and you and in every creature, and I am beginning to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the man of knowledge, than learning.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“You show the world as a complete, unbroken chain, an eternal chain, linked together by cause and effect.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Yes Siddhartha,' he said. 'Is this what you mean: that the river is in all places at once, at its source and where it flows into the sea, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the ocean, in the mountains, everywhere at once, so for the river there is only the present moment and not the shadow of the future?'

'It is,' Siddhartha said.'And once I learned this I considered my life, and it too was a river, and the boy Siddhartha was separated from the man Siddhartha and the graybeard Siddhartha only by shadows, not by real things. ... Nothing was, nothing will be; everything is, everything has being and presence.”
― Herman Hesse

“But of all the water's secrets, he saw today only a single one-one that struck his soul. He saw that this water flowed and flowed, it was constantly flowing, and yet it was always there; it was always eternally the same and yet new at every moment! Oh, to be able to grasp this, to understand this!”
― Herman Hesse

“Suchen heißt: ein Ziel haben. Finden aber heißt: frei sein, offen stehen, kein Ziel haben ... Ein Sucher sieht manches nicht, was nah vor seinen Augen steht.”
― Hermann Hesse

“Were not the gods forms created like me and you, mortal, transient?”
― Hermann Hesse

“And so Gotama wandered into the town to obtain alms, and the two Samanas recognized him only by his complete peacefulness of demeanor, by the stillness of his form, in which there was no seeking, no will, no counterfeit, no effort - only light and peace.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“He sat thus, lost in meditation, thinking Om, his soul as the arrow directed at Brahman.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Man svarbu mokėti mylėti pasaulį, neniekinti jo, nejausti neapykantos jam ir sau, žvelgti į jį, į save ir į visas būtybes su meile, susižavėjimu ir didžia pagarba.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Meilę galima iškaulyti, nupirkti, gauti dovanų, atrasti gatvėje, bet jėga jos išplėšti negalima.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“...It was the self from which I sought freedom and that I wanted to overcome... I could only deceive it, flee from it... Truly, no thing in this world has so occupied my thoughts as my own self, the riddle of the fact that I am alive, I am distinct and separate from all others, I am Siddhartha. And there is no thing in this world I know less about than me, about Siddhartha!”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“At times he heard within him a soft, gentle voice, which reminded him quietly, complained quietly, so that he could hardly hear it. Then he suddenly saw clearly that he was leading a strange life, that he was doing many things that were only a game, that he was quite cheerful and sometimes experienced pleasure, but that real life was flowing past him and did not touch him. Like a player who plays with his ball, he played with his business, with the people around him, watched them, derived amusement from them; but with his heart, with his real nature, he was not there. His real self wandered elsewhere, far away, wandered on and on invisibly and had nothing to do with his life”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“All of this had always existed, and he had not seen it; he had not been with it. Now he was with it, he was part of it. Light and shadow ran through his eyes, stars and moon ran through his heart.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Che io non sappia nulla di me, che Siddhartha mi sia rimasto così estraneo e sconosciuto, questo dipende da una causa fondamentale, una sola: io avevo paura di me, ero in fuga da me stesso! L'Atman cercavo, il Brahman cercavo, e volevo smembrare e scortecciare il mio Io, per trovare nella sua sconosciuta profondità il nocciolo di tutte le cortecce, l'Atman, la vita, il divino, l'assoluto. Ma proprio io, intanto, andavo perduto a me stesso.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Basta, cominciare il pensiero e la mia vita con l’Atman e col dolore del mondo! Basta, uccidermi e smembrarmi, per scoprire un segreto dietro le rovine! Non sarà più lo Yoga-Veda a istruirmi, né l’Atharva-Veda, né gli asceti, né alcuna dottrina. È da me che voglio imparare, di me stesso voglio essere il discepolo, voglio conoscermi, svelare quel mistero che ha nome Siddhartha”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Quando uno legge uno scritto di cui vuole conoscere il senso, non ne disprezza i segni e le lettere, né li chiama illusione, accidente e involucro senza valore, bensì li decifra, li studia e li ama, lettera per lettera. Io invece, io che volevo leggere il libro del mondo e il libro del mio proprio essere, ho disprezzato i segni e le lettere, a favore d’un significato congetturato in precedenza, ho chiamato illusione il mondo delle apparenze, ho chiamato il mio occhio e la mia lingua fenomeni accidentali e senza valore. No, tutto questo è finito, ora son desto, mi sono risvegliato davvero e oggi nasco per la prima volta”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“Ho visto un uomo, pensava Siddhartha, un uomo unico, davanti al quale ho dovuto abbassare lo sguardo. Davanti a nessun altro voglio mai più abbassare lo sguardo: a nessun altro.”
― Hermann Hesse, Sidhartha

“Govina knew: he [Siddhartha] would not become a common Brahman, not a lazy official in charge of offerings; not a greedy merchant with magic spells; not a vain, vacuous speaker; not a mean, deceitful priest; and also not a decent, stupid sheep in the herd of the many.”
― Herman Hesse, Siddhartha

“Govina knew: [Siddhartha] would not become a common Brahman, not a lazy official in charge of offerings; not a greedy merchant with magic spells; not a vain, vacuous speaker; not a mean, deceitful priest; and also not a decent, stupid sheep in the herd of the many.”
― Herman Hesse, Siddhartha

“Govinda said: “But what you call thing, is it something real, something intrinsic? Is it not only the illusion of Maya, only image and appearance? Your stone, your tree, are they real?”

“This does not trouble me much,” said Siddhartha. “If they are illusion, then I also am illusion, and so they are always of the same nature as myself. It is that which makes them so loveable and venerable. That is why I can love them. And here is a doctrine at which you will laugh. It seems to me, Govinda, that love is the most important thing in the world. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.”
― Hermann Hesse