(?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)
Hermann Hesse

“A man cannot live intensely except at the cost of the self. Now the bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self (rudimentary as his may be). And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he does comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire. The bourgeois is consequently by nature a creature of weak impulses, anxious, fearful of giving himself away and easy to rule. Therefore, he has substituted majority for power, law for force, and the polling booth for responsibility.”

Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
Read more quotes from Hermann Hesse


Share this quote:
Share on Twitter

Friends Who Liked This Quote

To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!


This Quote Is From

Steppenwolf Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
208,808 ratings, average rating, 10,283 reviews
Open Preview

Browse By Tag