66
" Fate was not kind, life was capricious and terrible, and there was no good or reason in nature. But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, and live to comfort each other.
And sometimes when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. Out of sounds, words and other frail and worthless things, we can construct playthings--songs and poems full of meaning, consolation and goodness, more beautiful and enduring than the grim sport of fortune and destiny. "
― Hermann Hesse , Gertrude
71
" I, myself, felt changed, was no longer a single person, but a part of all people, seeing good and bad features in all. I felt I could not love a person here and hate another person there. I was ashamed of my lack of understanding and saw clearly for the first time in my young life that one could not go through life and amongst people so simply, hating one person and loving another, respecting one person and despising another, but all this emotions were closely tied up, hardly separable and at times hardly distinguishable. "
― Hermann Hesse , Gertrude