Hermann Hesse's most beautiful quotes (with sources)
The top 3 according to 0 votes from people: And in every beginning dwells a magic that protects us and helps us to live. · The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must destroy a world. · I wanted only to try to live what sprang from within me. Why was that so very difficult?. (Updated May 23, 2026.)
"In every beginning dwells a magic", the bird fighting its way out of the egg and the impossible you must keep attempting: the most quoted lines of Hermann Hesse, from Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Demian and his letters.
Automatically translated (original in Deutsch). See the original
Top 12
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1
And in every beginning dwells a magic that protects us and helps us to live.
Poem "Stages" (1941), in The Glass Bead Game.
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2
The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must destroy a world.
Demian (1919).
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3
I wanted only to try to live what sprang from within me. Why was that so very difficult?
Demian (1919).
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4
For the possible to come about, the impossible must be attempted again and again.
Letter to Wilhelm Gundert (1960).
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5
All higher humour begins with no longer taking oneself seriously.
Steppenwolf (1927).
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6
The day had gone by, as days go by; I had got through it, I had gently killed it.
Steppenwolf (1927).
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7
Love can be begged for, bought, received as a gift, found in the street, but it cannot be stolen.
Siddhartha (1922).
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8
It is foolish, this path; it goes in loops, perhaps in circles. Let it go where it will, I want to walk it.
Siddhartha (1922).
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9
Against life's infamies the best weapons are bravery, stubbornness and patience.
Letter of 23 July 1950.
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10
Youth ends with selfishness; old age begins with living for others.
Gertrude (1910).
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11
God does not send us despair to kill us; he sends it to awaken new life in us.
The Glass Bead Game (1943).
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12
An aphorism is something like a gem: it gains value through rarity and is a pleasure only in tiny doses.
Letter of 27 February 1956.
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