Siddhartha

by Hermann Hesse

But he, Siddhartha, was not a source of joy for himself, he found no delight in himself.

everything which happens is connected,

but to depart from all teachings and all teachers and to reach my goal by myself or to die.

It is not my place to judge another person's life.

The purpose and the essential properties were not somewhere behind the things, they were in them, in everything.

the unexpressable and not teachable,

Never again I want to turn my eyes to the ground, when I'm coming across a beautiful woman.”

Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.”

she taught, thoroughly starting with the basics, about that school of thought which teaches that pleasure cannot be taken without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every look, every spot of the body, however small it was, had its secret, which would bring happiness to those who know about it and unleash it. She taught him, that lovers must not part from one another after celebrating love, without one admiring the other, without being just as defeated as they have been victorious, so that with none of

them should start feeling fed up or bored and get that evil feeling of having abused or having been abused.

“It is beautiful, sir, it is as you say. But isn't every life, isn't every work beautiful?”

“did you too learn that secret from the river: that there is no time?”

began to understand that his son had not brought him happiness and peace, but suffering and worry. But he

loved him, and he preferred the suffering and worries of love over happiness and joy without the boy.

But even if you would die ten times for him, you would not be able to take the slightest part of his destiny upon yourself.”

he now looked upon people, less smart, less proud, but instead warmer, more curious,

more involved.

these people did not seem alien to him as they used to: he understood them, he understood and shared their life, which was not guided by thoughts and insight, but s...

he saw people living for their sake, saw them achieving infinitely much for their sake, travelling, conducting wars, suffering infinitely much, bearing infinitely much, and he could love them for it, he saw life, that what is alive, the indestructible,

wisdom cannot be passed on. Wisdom which a wise man tries to pass on to someone always sounds like foolishness.”

wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught.

The opposite of every truth is just as true!

Time is not real,

everything only requires my consent, only my willingness, my loving agreement, to be good for me,

I have experienced on my body and on my soul that I needed sin very much, I needed lust, the desire for possessions, vanity, and needed the most shameful despair, in order to learn how to give up all resistance, in order to learn how to love the world, in order to stop comparing it to some world I wished, I imagined, some kind of perfection I had made up, but to leave it as it is and to love it and to enjoy being a part of it. —

The words are not good for the secret meaning, everything always becomes a bit different, as soon as it is put into words, gets distorted a bit, a bit silly — yes, and this is also very good, and I like it a lot, I also very much agree with this, that this what is one man's treasure and wisdom always sounds like foolishness to another person.”