Each of us has to find out for himself what is permitted and what is forbidden.. forbidden for him. It's possible for one never to transgress a single law and still be a bastard. And vice versa.

Hermann Hesse
About This Quote

J.P. Marquis in his book “The Law of the Secret Societies” observes that there are two types of magic: white and black magic. White magic is good and black is bad. The exact opposite is true in the case of morality.

Morality is good, but not all morality is good, he says. To illustrate this point, he asks readers to think of the worst possible example they can think of in terms of morality. If someone cheats on their spouse with another person, that would be considered adultery.

However, if a man sodomizes a horse while making love to a woman, it wouldn’t be considered a crime at all, not even a misdemeanor. According to Marquis, that’s because while cheating on a spouse might be wrong while sodomizing a horse would be right depending on the circumstances under which it was done, leaving one crime without committing another would be considered immoral since it would make you an outsider in relation to the rest of society.

Source: Demian. Die Geschichte Von Emil Sinclairs Jugend

Some Similar Quotes
  1. When you're a kid, they tell you that it's what's on the inside that counts. Looks don't matter . But that's not true. Guys like Phoebus in The Hunchback, or Dorian, or the old Kyle Kingsbury-- they can be scumbags to women and still get... - Alex Flinn

  2. Every concept of reality is all in our head, belief is what makes truth. - Christy Leigh Stewart

  3. Reality is what trips you up when you walk around with your eyes closed. - F. Paul Wilson

  4. Underneath, he was a good cat. Loyal and loving. But no one ever bothered to look past his rough exterior, because in reality, looks meant more than everyone wanted to admit. - Cambria Hebert

  5. I encounter one example after another of how relative truth is. - Raoul Wallenberg

More Quotes By Hermann Hesse
  1. If I know what love is, it is because of you.

  2. Oh, love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure.

  3. Often it is the most deserving people who cannot help loving those who destroy them.

  4. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the...

  5. Love must not entreat, ' she added, 'or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself. Then it ceases merely to be attracted and begins to attract.

Related Topics