{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/what-could-i-say",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/what-could-i-say.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/what-could-i-say.md",
  "id": "517691cb-68db-432d-bb6b-2d566de4c36a",
  "slug": "what-could-i-say",
  "text": "What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find. … When someone is seeking, it happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Hermann Hesse",
    "slug": "hermann-hesse",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "Siddhartha",
    "slug": "siddhartha",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 140,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "purpose",
      "slug": "purpose",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/purpose"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)#Quotes",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:33",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "a504ea85-247a-4f5c-b173-709819667ffc",
      "slug": "siddhartha-had-begun",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/siddhartha-had-begun",
      "text": "Siddhartha had begun to feel the seeds of discontent within him. … He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom, that they had already poured the sum total of their knowledge into his waiting vessel; and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 5,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "wisdom",
          "slug": "wisdom",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)#Quotes",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:10:05"
    },
    {
      "id": "20f348db-ae7b-45c5-b064-4e4490550141",
      "slug": "no-this-tremendous",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/no-this-tremendous",
      "text": "No, this tremendous amount of knowledge, collected and preserved by successive generations of wise Brahmins, could not be easily overlooked. But where were the Brahmins, the wise men, the priests who were successful in not only having this most profound knowledge, but in living it?",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 7,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "knowledge",
          "slug": "knowledge",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge"
        },
        {
          "name": "wisdom",
          "slug": "wisdom",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)#Quotes",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:10:05"
    },
    {
      "id": "e44f7493-6bc9-484b-9296-1615ccb22f7e",
      "slug": "i-can-love",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/i-can-love",
      "text": "I can love a stone, Govinda, and a tree or a piece of bark. These are things and one can love things. But one cannot love words. … Also with this great teacher, the thing to me is of greater importance than the words; his deeds and life are more important to me than his talk, the gesture of his hand is more important to me than his opinions. Not in speech or thought do I regard him as a great man, but in his deeds and life.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 146,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "words",
          "slug": "words",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words"
        },
        {
          "name": "taking action",
          "slug": "taking-action",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)#Quotes",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:33"
    }
  ]
}