Hermann Hesse Quotes

Most men will not swim before they are able to.' Is not that witty? Naturally, they won't swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they won't think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what's more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.

Hermann Hesse

• Men
• Business
• Think
• Earth
• Swim

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• The pop-star thing bores me because it's somebody programming someone else. Stand over here, sing that, no, sing it like this, talk like that, when they ask you this, don't say that, say this, hold that, drive this, stay here, live there - you're not even a human being. You're a puppet.

  

  Randy Jackson Breakfast Club
  • Live
  • Me
  • Star

• My job is to train hard, go fight, and do my best.

  

  Canelo Alvarez
  • Job
  • Best
  • Fight

• A pitcher will never be a big winner until he hates hitters.

  

  Early Wynn
  • Never
  • Big
  • Winner

• New Zealanders have conventions and pleasantries, but we are direct. We are encouraged to be transparent with our behavior and not to employ passive aggression.

  

  Daniel Gillies
  • New
  • Behavior
  • Passive

• I'd rather be strongly wrong than weakly right.

  

  Tallulah Bankhead
  • Right
  • Wrong
  • Rather

• I have the potential to be very strong and powerful, sometimes angry, sometimes passionate. I also can be shy and withhold that because I am afraid. I don't want to freak anybody out with my passion... So I struggle with that all the time.

  

  Idina Menzel
  • Time
  • Strong
  • Passion

• My stepfather gave me a Kodak camera when I was 17 years old. I started working at a local photo store in Le Havre, France, taking passport pictures and photographing weddings.

  

  Patrick Demarchelier
  • Working
  • Camera
  • Pictures

• One puts off the biography like you put off death. To write an autobiography is to etch the words on your own gravestone.

  

  Carlos Fuentes
  • Death
  • Words
  • Autobiography

• All I did was ask for rights. I didn't attack anyone. I didn't harass anyone. I didn't oppose the system or the country or the authority. All I said is, 'Why can't I drive?'

  

  Manal al-Sharif
  • Country
  • Why
  • Said

• I feel like I should be more in touch with the nuances of this game.

  

  Ichiro Suzuki
  • Game
  • Like
  • Feel

• When we're back home, I feel pretty domesticated.

  

  Washed Out
  • Home
  • Pretty
  • Feel

• You have a lot of great teams in the NBA. I watched San Antonio against Dallas, and they're two great teams, and there are great teams in the east, as well. So it takes time to gel, as we've all seen.

  

  Dan Gilbert
  • Time
  • Great
  • You

• Religion is the opium of the masses.

  

  Karl Marx
  • Religion
  • Masses
  • Opium

• Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.

  

  Nancy Pelosi
  • Technology
  • Process
  • Weapons

• If God had been a liberal, we wouldn't have had the Ten Commandments - we'd have the Ten Suggestions.

  

  Malcolm Bradbury
  • God
  • Liberal
  • Suggestions

• The principles governing Western democracies, of which Israel rightly considers itself a part, are based on the assurance that everyone has a vote, but also that the minority needs to yield to the wishes of the majority.

  

  Edgar Bronfman, Sr.
  • Vote
  • Wishes
  • Minority

• Writing is finally play, and there's no reason why you should get paid for playing.

  

  Irwin Shaw
  • Writing
  • Why
  • Play

• I think I was only divorced once, and the rest were annulments. Or, maybe not. I can't keep track actually, because it's not that important. I just am who I am.

  

  Lana Wood
  • Actually
  • Divorced
  • Annulments

• All futurity seems teeming with endless destruction never to be repelled; Desperate remorse swallows the present in a quenchless rage.

  

  William Blake
  • Destruction
  • Rage
  • Swallows

• In my case Pilgrim's Progress consisted in my having to climb down a thousand ladders until I could reach out my hand to the little clod of earth that I am.

  

  Carl Jung
  • Earth
  • Hand
  • Progress

• Since it is difficult to approve the reasons people invoke, each time we leave one of our 'fellow men', the question which comes to mind is invariably the same: how does he keep from killing himself?

  

  Emil Cioran
  • People
  • Time
  • Men

• It must be a sign of talent that I do not give up, though I can get nobody to take an interest in my efforts.

  

  Fanny Mendelssohn
  • Up
  • Effort
  • Talent

• Most men will not swim before they are able to.' Is not that witty? Naturally, they won't swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they won't think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what's more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.

  

  Hermann Hesse
  • Men
  • Business
  • Think