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That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive with a sense of the close bond that connects all living things, so long as love does not die!
Hermann Hesse
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Love brings both joy and suffering, but the connection it creates is what truly matters.

This quote by Hermann Hesse expresses the dual nature of love; it can lead to deep suffering yet is integral to feeling alive. The pain we endure because of love is overshadowed by the profound bond it forges among all living beings, emphasizing that the essence of love should not perish despite the hardship it may cause.

Themes

LoveSufferingConnectionBondLife

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared during a wedding speech to highlight the beautiful complexity of love.

More from Hermann Hesse

I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha." He looked around as if he were seeing the world for the first time.
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You're quite right there," he said. "I have practiced abstinence myself for years, and had my time of fasting, too, but now I find myself once more beneath the sign of Aquarius, a dark and humid constellation.
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I call that man awake who, with conscious knowledge and understanding, can perceive the deep unreasoning powers in his soul, his whole innermost strength, desire and weakness, and knows how to reckon with himself.
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Despair is the result of each earnest attempt to go through life with virtue, justice and understanding, and to fulfill their requirements. Children live on one side of despair, the awakened on the other side.
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