Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
“When someone seeks," said Siddhartha, "then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.”
― Siddhartha
― Siddhartha
“Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve.”
― Steppenwolf
― Steppenwolf
“Most men will not swim before they are able to.” Is that not witty? Naturally, they won't swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they wont think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what’s more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.”
― Steppenwolf
― Steppenwolf
“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
(Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)”
―
(Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)”
―
“When I have neither pleasure nor pain and have been breathing for a while the lukewarm insipid air of these so called good and tolerable days, I feel so bad in my childish soul that I smash my moldering lyre of thanksgiving in the face of the slumbering god of contentment and would rather feel the very devil burn in me than this warmth of a well-heated room. A wild longing for strong emotions and sensations seethes in me, a rage against this toneless, flat, normal and sterile life. I have a mad impulse to smash something, a warehouse, perhaps, or a cathedral, or myself, to commit outrages, to pull off the wigs of a few revered idols...”
― Steppenwolf
― Steppenwolf
Valeria’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Valeria’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
135 books
|
31 friends
5 books
|
20 friends
132 books
|
18 friends
11 books
|
30 friends
1 book
|
40 friends
1 book
|
35 friends
0 books
|
12 friends
0 books
|
18 friends
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Valeria
Lists liked by Valeria