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Quotable quotes


I can say with this author

When I take a long look at my life, as though from outside, it does not appear particularly happy. Yet I am even less justified in calling it unhappy, despite all its mistakes. After all, it is foolish to keep probing for happiness or unhappiness, for it seems to me it would be hard to exchange the unhappiest days of my life for all the happy ones. If what matters in a person’s existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one’s external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. Even if, as it is decreed by the gods, fate has inexorably trod over my external existence as it does with everyone, my inner life has been of my own making . I deserve its sweetness and bitterness and accept full responsibility for it.

Hermann Hesse

About makagutu

As Onyango Makagutu I am Kenyan, as far as I am a man, I am a citizen of the world

30 thoughts on “Quotable quotes”

  1. shelldigger says:
    February 17, 2016 at 22:01

    I think this is very true for those who have been paying attention.

    Many I fear lack the capacity to harmonize the inner with the outer. Some seek only to conquer one or the other and fail to see both.

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  2. archaeopteryx1 says:
    February 17, 2016 at 22:29

    Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
    And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
    And how else can it be?
    The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
    Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
    And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
    When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
    When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
    Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
    But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
    Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
    Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
    Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
    — Kahlil Gibran
    The Prophet —

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  3. inspiredbythedivine1 says:
    February 18, 2016 at 00:40

    Good quote. I like the one arch left, too. Here’s one I’ll contribute: “Dammit! I stubbed my friggin’ toe and it’s my fault. I shoulda been wearin’ my shoes when I was moving my coach.” Hamlet, Act 2, scene 8.

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  4. mark says:
    February 18, 2016 at 03:06

    An excellent quote from probably my favourite author.
    The quote itself would appear to be from an old person looking back with many years experience that add some kind of perspective. The fact that it is from one of Hesse’s early novels written as a young man only adds to its majesty and the majesty of his amazing insightful poetic talent.
    When I was 19 my friend who was going away to Italy gave me a box of books to keep. Having never read any book ever before I randomly picked a book from the box and started to read it. The book was Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse and it literally changed my whole world. One of the greatest gifts I ever received.
    Thanks for sharing this quote. It makes great sense indeed.

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  5. clubschadenfreude says:
    February 18, 2016 at 15:18

    Very nice quote. I read “Siddartha” by Hesse when I was 13. For some mysterious reason it was part of a set of books issued by a student book company called “Scholastic Books” our English teacher had that we could choose from to read for a book report. It was in with typical young adult books from the late 70s. I think I was the only one to select it. No wonder I am a little odd now 🙂

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  6. archaeopteryx1 says:
    February 20, 2016 at 21:54

    This, from today’s Knowledge Guild:

    “Belief in truth begins with doubts of all truths in which one has previously believed.”
    — Friedrich Nietzsche —

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