Dont live in a town that doesn’t have a library

In any city, a library has always been my favorite place. Even if Google digitizes all the books in the world, i’ll still be going to libraries. There is a saying in my mother tongue (Tamil) which loosely translates to “Don’t live in a town that does not have a temple”, i think for me it will be “Dont live in a town that doesn’t have a library”. One of my favorite pastimes is to aimlessly stroll around the aisles of the library and browse through random books. During these strolls i often find hidden treasures. In my latest stroll i found one such treasure. It was a book called “Reflections”  – a collection of quotes from Herman Hesse.

I came across Hesse when i was seventeen or eighteen. I remember, in those days i was going behind philosophical/psychological books, books like “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” and “I Am Ok, You are Ok”. I don’t know if i understood them then (and i don’t know if i understand them now !!!). I liked the name “Siddhartha” and probably that could be the reason why Hesse’s “Siddhartha” attracted me. I think i got hold of the book from Ramanashram Library at Thiruvannamalai. Later when i came to US, i saw the movie version of the book (Shashi Kapoor as Siddhartha). It is difficult to say if the book and the movie made a deeper impression on me, but i then made a note that i should read more Hesse. And “Reflections” gives Hesse in a nutshell.

Here are few of my favorite quotes from “Reflections”:

• Some people regard themselves as perfect, but only because they demand little of themselves.
• Time and time again we have clinged to the things we learned to love; we call this fidelity, but it is only inertia.
• Practice ought to be the consequence of thought, not the other way round.
• I hold that I am not responsible for the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of life, but that I am responsible for what I do with my own life.
• Deeds – are never done by one who first asks, “What should I do?”
• Generally speaking, the enemies of good books and of good taste are not those who despise books but those who read anything and everything.
• Those who have no appreciation of poetry are sure to overlook what is finest and most beautiful in the language of good prose.
• With reading it is the same as with every other pleasure: the more fervently and lovingly we give ourselves to it, the deeper and more lasting the pleasure will be.
• Every politician in the world is all for revolution, reason, and disarmament – but only in enemy countries, not in his own.
• I like to think of myself as a patriot, but even more so as a man. Where the two disagree, i say the man is right.
• When we hate someone, it is because we hate some part of ourselves in his image. We don’t get excited about anything that is not in ourselves.
• When we fear someone, it is because we have given this someone power over us.
• Knowledge has no ultimate goals; its progress is merely is merely a greater differentiation in the questions raised.
• The only part of a story that is true is the part the listener believes.
• A profession is always a misfortune, it means limitation and resignation.
• The world has often been condemned as evil because someone has slept badly or eaten too much. The world has often been glorified because someone has just kissed a girl.
• I need no weapon against death, because there is no death. What does exist is the fear of death. That can be cured.

Related links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0553208845/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyFg291i8Ak

http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Hermann-Hesse/dp/0374510822/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223874822&sr=1-2