You're welcome. I only just started reading The Prophet. While it could be a one sitting read, I'm only reading a few at a time.

The Hesse quote on wine is from Peter Camenzind, which is his first novel and an easy yet deep read, and I only found it or it found me last fall and I finally read it this past spring. I've written a few pieces that it inspired or figured into. You read my "Learning to Love by Observing the Art of Dying Well." A wonderful quote about clouds kicks off my https://medium.com/the-taoist-online/cloudwatchers-delights-360d9239c9e3.

My favorite Hesse book is Narcissus and Goldmund. I've read it four times, most recently a few months ago. I don't think I've ever quoted it but I touched on it here. https://medium.com/the-taoist-online/hermann-hesse-alan-arkin-and-marcus-meet-in-a-bar-to-discuss-philosophy-with-marcus-7582ce0bad14.

This is what it says about the book inside the cover:

"NARCISSUS

an ascetic monk; a rigorous intellectual remains in the monastery to become an abbot; the epitome of the mas- culine, analytical mind.

GOLDMUND

romantic, dreamy, flaxen-haired boy; celebrates the lush, lyrical, rapturous, sensuous quality of women; leaves the monastery to find his true nature; he epitomizes the feminine mind.

NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND

two antithetical natures, the best of friends, who under- stand and assist each other.

'Hesse lifts the contrapuntal play of conflicting forces into a plane as close to music as words will come. What lingers in the reader's mind is a melancholy melody, a romantic "lied" full of wanderlust for a trip into the id.'

-Saturday Review"