“Solitude is not chosen, any more than destiny is chosen. Solitude comes to us if we have within us the magic stone that attracts destiny. || Hermann Hesse

Hermann Karl Hesse (1877 – 1962), was a German-Swiss poet, novelist and painter. He was the the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings were heavily influenced by his interest in Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions, and his involvement with Jungian analysis. Some of his best-known work ncludes Demian, Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, and The Glass Bead Game.  Many of his writings explore the individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. Hesse writings were well known in German-speaking countries and his writings went on to become very popular internationally with the post-World War II generation readers. More   

Image source: The Dutch National Archives, and Spaarnestad Photo Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands license.