The Wisdom Letter #112

5 quotes from Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)

✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the German-Swiss poet and novelist, Hermann Hesse (1877–1962).

Quote № 01:

“Oh, love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure.”

— Hermann Hesse, “Peter Camenzind”

Quote № 02:

“At about the age of six or seven, I realized that of all the invisible powers the one I was destined to be most strongly affected and dominated by was music.”

— Hermann Hesse, “Gertrude”

Quote № 03:

“That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive with a sense of the close bond that connects all living things, so long as love does not die!”

— Hermann Hesse, “Peter Camenzind”

Quote № 04:

“Love does not entreat; or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself. Then it ceases merely to be attracted and begins to attract.”

— Hermann Hesse, “Demian”

Quote № 05:

“We aren't pigs as you seem to think, but human beings. We create gods and struggle with them, and they bless us.”

— Hermann Hesse, “Demian”

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✺ Today’s Questions

Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:

Question № 01:

Is true unconditional love possible, or does all love have conditions that we are perhaps unaware of? How would the presence of unspoken conditions alter the ethical nature of love?

Question № 02:

How does the relationship between music and emotion function? Is music inherently emotional, or is the emotional impact it produces a consequence of cultural conditioning and personal associations?

Question № 03:

What role does vulnerability play in love? Can genuine love exist without the risk of being hurt, or is vulnerability a prerequisite for love’s deepest forms of connection?

✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.

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