Siddhartha is a profound exploration of the life journey and spiritual awakening.
Through these quotes, explore the wisdom of the ages and reflect on life’s greatest lessons.
Siddhartha Quotes With Page Numbers Part 1
“Dreams and restless thoughts came flowing to him from the river, from the twinkling stars at night, from the sun’s melting rays. Dreams and a restlessness of the soul came to him.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: The Brahmin’s Son, Page 5
“…and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart was not still.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: The Brahmin’s Son, Page 5
“Your soul is the whole world.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: The Brahmin’s Son, Page 7
“One must find the source within one’s own Self, one must possess it. Everything else was seeking — a detour, an error.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: The Brahmin’s Son, Page 7
“Om is the bow, the arrow is soul,”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: The Brahmin’s Son, Page 8
“You will grow tired, Siddhartha.”
“I will grow tired.”
“You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.”
“I will fall asleep.”
“You will die, Siddhartha.”
“I will die.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: The Brahmin’s Son, Page 11
“Siddhartha has one single goal-to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow-to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought-that was his goal.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, With the Samanas, Page 14
“He lost his Self a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it. Although Siddhartha fled from the Self a thousand times, dwelt in nothing, dwelt in animal and stone, the return was inevitable; the hour was inevitable when he would again find himself in sunshine or in moonlight, in shadow or in rain, and was again Self and Siddhartha, again felt the torment of the onerous life cycle.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, With The Samanas, Page 15-16
“We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, With The Samanas, Page 18
“I have always thirsted for knowledge, I have always been full of questions.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, With The Samanas, Page 19
“There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge-that is everywhere, that is Atman, that is in me and you and in every creature, and I am beginning to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the man of knowledge, than learning.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, With the Samanas, Page 19
“I have no desire to walk on water,” said Siddhartha. “Let the old shramanas satisfy themselves with such skills.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, With The Samanas, Page 24
“With a secret smile, not unlike that of a healthy child,he walked along, peacefully, quietly. He wore his gown and walked along exactly like the other monks, but his face and his step, his peaceful downward glance, his peaceful downward-hanging hand, and every finger of his hand spoke of peace, spoke of completeness, sought nothing, imitated nothing, reflected a continuous quiet, an unfading light, an invulnerable peace.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Page 27
“You show the world as a complete, unbroken chain, an eternal chain, linked together by cause and effect.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Page 32
“Whether it is good or evil, whether life in itself is pain or pleasure, whether it is uncertain-that it may perhaps be this is not important-but the unity of the world, the coherence of all events, the embracing of the big and the small from the same stream, from the same law of cause, of becoming and dying.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Page 32
“Opinions mean nothing; they may be beautiful or ugly, clever or foolish, anyone can embrace or reject them.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Page 33
“It is not for me to judge another life. I must judge for myself, I must choose and reject, We Samanas seek release from the self, O Illustrious One.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Pages 34-35
“I, also, would like to look and smile, sit and walk like that, so free, so worthy, so restrained, so candid, so childlike and mysterious. A man only looks and walks like that when he has conquered his Self. I also will conquer my Self.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Page 35
“He has robbed me, yet he has given me something of greater value . . . he has given to me myself.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Character: Gotama, Pages 35-36
“Truly, nothing in the world has so occupied my thoughts as this I, this riddle, the fact I am alive, that I am separated and isolated from all others, that I am Siddhartha! And about nothing in the world do I know less about than me, about Siddhartha!”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Awakening, Page 38
“The reason why I do not know anything about myself, the reason why Siddhartha has remained alien and unknown to myself is due to one thing, to one single thing–I was afraid of myself, I was fleeing from myself. I was seeking Atman, I was seeking Brahman, I was determined to dismember myself and tear away its layers of husk in order to find in its unknown innermost recess the kernel at the heart of those layers, the Atman, life, the divine principle, the ultimate. But in so doing, I was losing myself.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Awakening, Page 38
“I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Awakening, Page 39
“I called the world of phenomena an illusion, I called my eyes and my tongue and accident, valueless phenomena. No, that is all over; I have awakened, I have really awakened and have just been born today.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Awakening, Page 40
Quotes From Siddhartha: Part Two
“The world was beautiful when looked at in this way—without any seeking, so simple, so childlike.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Kamala, Page 46
“All this had always been and he had never seen it; he was never present. Now he was present and belonged to it. Through his eyes he saw light and shadows; through his mind he was aware of moon and stars (p. 38).”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, Kamala, Page 46
“One can beg, buy, be presented with and find love in the streets, but it can never be stolen.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, Kamala, Page 55
“Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Kamala, Page 60
“If a man has nothing to eat, fasting is the most intelligent thing he can do. If, for instance, Siddhartha had not learned to fast, he would have had to seek some kind of work today, either with you, or elsewhere, for hunger would have driven him. But as it is, Siddhartha can wait calmly. He is not impatient, he is not in need, he can ward off hunger for a long time and laugh at it. Therefore, fasting is useful, sir.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Amongst the People, Page 64
“I can think. I can wait. I can fast.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, Amongst the People, Page 64
“Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Amongst the People, Page 65
“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Amongst the People, Page 71
“Most people, Kamala, are like a falling leaf, which is blown and is turning around through the air, and wavers, and tumbles to the ground. But others, a few, are like stars, they go on a fixed course, no wind reaches them, in themselves they have their law and their course”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Amongst the People, Page 72
“You love nobody. Is that not true?”
“Maybe,” said Siddhartha wearily. “I am like you. You cannot love either, otherwise how could you practice love as an art? Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can – that is their secret.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Amongst the People, Page 73
“…and gradually his face assumed the expressions which are so often found among rich people – the expressions of discontent, of sickliness, of displeasure, of idleness, of lovelessness. Slowly the soul sickness of the rich crept over him.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Samsara, Page 78
“What a wonderful sleep it had been! Never had sleep so refreshed him, so renewed him, so rejuvenated him! Perhaps he had really died, perhaps he had been drowned and was reborn in another form. No, he recognized himself, he recognized his hands and feet, the place where he lay and the Self in his breast, Siddhartha, self-willed, individualistic. But this Siddhartha was somewhat changed, renewed. He had slept wonderfully. He was remarkably awake, happy and curious.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, By The River, Page 91
“I felt knowledge and the unity of the world circulate in me like my own blood.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, By The River, Page 96
“I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, so much nausea, disillusionment and sorrow, just in order to become a child again and begin anew. I had to experience despair, I had to sink to the greatest mental depths, to thoughts of suicide, in order to experience grace.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, By The River, Pages 96-97
“Whither will my path yet lead me? This path is stupid, it goes in spirals, perhaps in circles, but whichever way it goes, I will follow it.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddharta, By The River, Page 97
“You will learn it,’ said Vasudeva, ‘but not from me. The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it too. The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it. You have already learned from the river that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek the depths.’
…Was it not a comedy, a strange and stupid thing, this repetition, this course of events in a fateful circle?…
The river laughed. Yes, that was how it was. Everything that was not suffered to the end and finally concluded, recurred, and the same sorrows were undergone.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, The Ferryman, Page 105
“The river is everywhere.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, The Ferryman, Page 107
“Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, The Ferryman, Page 107
“They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, The Ferryman, Page 108
“No, a true seeker, one who truly wished to find, could accept no doctrine. But the man who has found what he sought, such a man could approve of every doctrine, each and every one, every path, every goal; nothing separated him any longer from all those thousands of others who lived in the eternal, who breathed the Divine.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, The Ferryman, Page 110
“. . . gentleness is stronger than severity, that water is stronger than rock, that love is stronger than force.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, The Son, Pages 119-120
“Within Siddhartha there slowly grew and ripened the knowledge of what wisdom really was and the goal of his long seeking. It was nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life.
This thought matured in him slowly, and it was reflected in Vasudeva’s old childlike face: harmony, knowledge of the eternal perfection of the world, and unity.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Om, Page 131
“What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Govinda, Page 140
“When someone is seeking,” said Siddartha, “It happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Govinda, Page 140
“Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose.”
~Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, Govinda, Page 140
“Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish… Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Govinda, Page 142
“Words do not express thoughts very well. they always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another.”
~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, Govinda, Page 145