What a real living human being is made of seems to be less understood today than at any time before, and men -- each one of whom represents a unique and valuable experiment on the part of nature -- are therefore shot wholesale nowadays.
Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once and never again.
Few people nowadays know what man is. Many sense this ignorance and die more easily because of it.
No man has been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that.
Each represents a gamble on the part of nature in creation of the human. We all share the same origin, but each of us strives toward his own destiny. We can understand one another, but each of us is able to interpret himself by himself alone.
I would have to desire it strongly enough so that my whole being was ruled by it. Once that is the case, once you have tried something that you have been ordered to do from within yourself, then you'll be able to accomplish it.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/215663718/Demian-Hermann-Hesse
