Once he said to her: 'You are like me; you are different from other people. You are Kamala and no one else, and within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat any time and be yourself, just as I can. Few people have that capacity and yet everyone could have it. Hermann Hesse
About This Quote

It was a windy day and Kamala was walking down the street with her friend. She was dressed up in a sari with a scarf tied around her head and a smile on her face. She walked with a spring in her step, as she always did when she was happy. Her friend spotted a pair of shoes that they wanted to buy and Kamala took notice as well.

As she walked, they passed an old man who stared at Kamala for a moment before staring at the shoes. Kamala then turned to her friend and said, “See that old man? He looks like he is made out of glass, don’t you think?” “Yes, I do,” her friend said. Kamala then continued, “Well, one day I was sitting by the river and this old man came up to me and he said: ‘You are like me; you are different from other people. You are Kamala and no one else, and within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat any time and be yourself, just as I can’” After saying this, Kamala looked back at the man who was now standing behind them. He turned away but then turned back again to see if they were still there. Her friend then asked the question that had been on everyone’s mind since they first saw him watching them: “How do you know that? How do you know he is like you? Why would he want to say that about himself?” Kamala smiled at her friend as she answered: “Because he is like me; he has everything inside him that I have inside me; all of his life his heart has been open to love; because he has seen what love is like; because only one person has ever looked at him with love in their eyes; because only I have ever given him my love without conditions or expecting anything in return.

And because he saw how much it hurt when I was not there for him any more, just as it hurt when I wasn’t there for him anymore. And now that he knows how much it hurts when I do not exist any longer… now that he knows how much it hurts when I do not exist any longer… now that he knows how much it hurts when I do not exist any longer… now that he knows how much it hurts when I do

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Promise YourselfTo be so strong that nothingcan disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperityto every person you meet. To make all your friends feelthat there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everythingand make your optimism come... - Christian D. Larson
  2. They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. - Tom Bodett
  3. Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness. - Bertrand Russell
  4. Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world. - Orhan Pamuk
  5. I know that's what people say-- you'll get over it. I'd say it, too. But I know it's not true. Oh, youll be happy again, never fear. But you won't forget. Every time you fall in love it will be because something in the man... - Betty Smith
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