“It taught him how to listen -- how to listen with a quiet heart and a waiting soul, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgment, without opinion.”

“Hewas taught by the river. Incessantly, he learned from it. Most of all,he learned from it to listen, to pay close attention with a quiet heart,with a waiting, opened soul, without passion, without a wish, withoutjudgement, without an opinion.”

“So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused.”

“It was clear to the one speaking that each of his words was being allowed to enter into his listener, who sat there quietly, openly, waiting' not a single word was disregarded or met with impatience; Vasudeva attached neither praise nor blame to what he heard but merely listened.”

“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.”

“When you throw a rock into the water, it will speed on the fastest course to the bottom of the water. This is how it is when Siddhartha has a goal, a resolution. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like a rock through water, without doing anything, without stirring; he is drawn, he lets himself fall. His goal attracts him, because he doesn't let anything enter his soul which might oppose the goal. This is what Siddhartha has learned among the Samanas. This is what fools call magic and which they think is effected by demons. Nothing is effected by demons, there are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.”

“I am a star in the firmamentthat observe the world, despises the worldand consumed in its heat.I am the sea by night in a stormthe sea shouting that accumulates new sinsand to the ancient makes recompense.I am exiled from your worldof pride polite, by pride defrauded,I am the king without crown.I am the passion without wordswithout stones of the hearth, without weapons in the war,is my same force that make me sick”