Hermann Hesse Quotes

I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I'm beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story isn't pleasant, it's not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.

We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves, from ourselves.

I tell the truth, and I expose myself as a weak, misguided, misdirected, dysfunctional human being I used to be.

I have faced up to what I am.

Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself

When human beings distance themselves from their own inner truth and the truth around them, we can't see ourselves in our true light and that is to our detriment.

I don't tell the truth any more to those who can't make use of it. I tell it mostly to myself, because it always changes me.

No matter how much we ask after the truth, self-awareness is often unpleasant. We do not feel kindly toward the Truthsayer.

I was 45 when I wrote most of this book [Hungry Heart ], at what felt like a halfway point in my life, and I thought, If I can't be honest now, when will it happen? It was so hard to step away from the [protection of] fiction, but I'm ready to talk start telling their truth.

If we judge our lives by what we know or by what we say, we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that we are something we are not; it is wiser to evaluate ourselves by the amount of truth we actually live. This is very humbling.

As you go down the path of life, ask whats true. Not who else believes it.

To dance at all is to confront oneself. It is the art of honesty.

Forcing yourself to think happy lies doesn't heal your dreams. Getting to the truth does.

Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions.

For two extraordinary years I have been working on it - learning to write - but mostly learning how to tell the truth. At first it is quite impossible. You make yourself better than anybody, then worse than anybody, and when you finally come to see you are "like" everybody - that is the bitterest blow of all to the ego. But in the end it is only the truth, no matter how ugly or shameful, that is right, that fits together, that makes real people, and strangely enough - beauty.

I think it's more important to seek the truth than to try and be perfect, to be honest.

From outside one will always triumphantly impress theories upon the world and then fall straight into the ditch one has dug, but only from inside will one keep oneself and the world quiet and true.

That is the first thing to learn - not to seek. When you seek you are really only window-shopping. The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality, or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosophers or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself and that is why you must know yourself. Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self. To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.

You're always learning about yourself, if you're honest with yourself. It's very tough to be honest with yourself. We all are dishonest with ourselves, a lot of the time. We don't want to deal with something, so we compartmentalize it.

Relationship is a mirror in which you can see yourself, not as you would wish to be, but as you are.

In terms of my life, I guess I want to share whatever I've learned really, which is basically one thing: know yourself, look for yourself, know what to look for, cherish it, be honest, be authentic, even if it hurts your feelings. That's not bad.

We demand that sex speak the truth and we demand that it tell us our truth, or rather, the deeply buried truth of that truth about ourselves wich we think we possess in our immediate consciousness.

I'm interested in trying to explore what I think is the truth at a given time in my life, and part of the process of being honest is - in my mind - talking about the idea that you're watching a movie.

Be yourself... And shoot for the stars. Obviously dreams really do come true.