Let well enough alone,” said God. “What’s the good in complaining? Don’t you see that whatever happened was good and right, that nothing should have been any different? Would you really want to be a gentleman now, or a master craftsman with a wife and children, reading the paper by the fireside? Wouldn’t you run away again this minute to sleep in the woods with the foxes and set traps for birds and catch lizards?
“
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Knulp by Hermann Hesse, 1915
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Look,” said God. “I wanted you the way you are and no different. You were a wanderer in my name and wherever you went you brought the settled folk a little homesickness for freedom. In my name, you did silly things and people scoffed at you; I myself was scoffed at in you and loved in you. You are my child and my brother and a part of me. There is nothing you have enjoyed and suffered that I have not enjoyed and suffered with you.
“
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Knulp by Hermann Hesse 1915
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strangenewsfromanotherplanet:
-Hesse while he’s on one of his vacations with a friend.
Dear followers, as you have noticed this Hermann Hesse Appreciation blog has gone, more or less, unmanaged lately. It seems as if strangenewsfromanotherplanet is running a more active forum and I must suggest that you all steer some direction that way. I will still post to this blog as inspiration strikes and time allows, but I’d hate for you all to go Hesse-less on my account.
strangenewsfromanotherplanet:
Dear followers, as you have noticed this Hermann Hesse Appreciation blog has gone, more or less, unmanaged lately. It seems as if strangenewsfromanotherplanet is running a more active forum and I must suggest that you all steer some direction that way. I will still post to this blog as inspiration strikes and time allows, but I’d hate for you all to go Hesse-less on my account.
strangenewsfromanotherplanet:
“It was morning; through the high window I saw the pure, bright blue of the sky as it hovered cheerfully over the long roofs of the neighboring houses. It too seemed full of joy, as if it had special plans, and had put on its finest clothes for the occasion.”
-Hesse
Dear followers, as you have noticed this Hermann Hesse Appreciation blog has gone, more or less, unmanaged lately. It seems as if strangenewsfromanotherplanet is running a more active forum and I must suggest that you all steer some direction that way. I will still post to this blog as inspiration strikes and time allows, but I’d hate for you all to go Hesse-less on my account.
I’d really like to know what will become of you, Goldmund. I often think about it. You’ll have no ordinary life, and it won’t be easy. Oh, I hope you’ll do well! Sometimes I think you ought to become a poet, a man who has visions and know how to describe them beautifully. Ah, you’ll wander all over the whole world and all women will love you, and yet you’ll always remain alone.
“
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Lydia in Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund
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fick ja gave me a good laugh
yes,my German is a thing to laugh at!
You can’t compare yourself with others: if Nature has made you a bat you shouldn’t try to be an ostrich.
