Demian

by Hermann Hesse

Every person’s life is a journey toward himself, the attempt at a journey, the intimation of a path. No person has ever been completely himself, but each one strives to become so, some gropingly, others more lucidly, according to his abilities.

when all that has become dear to us is about to leave us and we suddenly feel the solitude and deathly chill of outer space around us.

It’s only out after things that have meaning and value for it, things it needs and absolutely must have. And then it even accomplishes the unbelievable—it develops a magical sixth sense that no other animal possesses! We human beings have greater latitude, of course, and more interests than an animal does. But we, too, are confined in a relatively small circle and can’t go beyond it.