--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Each of us is merely one human being…" description: "\"Each of us is merely one human being, merely an experiment, a way station. But each of us should be on the way toward perfection, should be striving to..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/hermann-hesse-130_experiments_each-of-us-is-merely-one-human-being-mer_1620074.png" --- # Each of us is merely one human being, merely an… ![“Each of us is merely one human being, merely an experiment, a way station. But each of us should be on the way toward perfection, should be striving to reach the center, not the periphery.” quote by Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/hermann-hesse-130_experiments_each-of-us-is-merely-one-human-being-mer_1620074.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/hermann-hesse-130_experiments_each-of-us-is-merely-one-human-being-mer_1620074.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df5/hermann-hesse-130_experiments_each-of-us-is-merely-one-human-being-mer_1620074.png) > “Each of us is merely one human being, merely an experiment, a way station. But each of us should be on the way toward perfection, should be striving to reach the center, not the periphery.” [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human existence is a temporary experiment aimed at personal growth toward an ideal self, urging focus on inner development rather than superficial distractions. **In simple terms:** Life is a brief experiment seeking inner perfection. Key Takeaway Prioritize inner growth over external distractions. Themes self‑improvement spirituality human nature Mood contemplative hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - career advancement - creative projects - relationship building Key Concepts existentialism personal development idealism Questions to Reflect On - What inner goals truly matter to you? - How can you balance self‑growth with everyday responsibilities? A Different Perspective Perfection is unattainable; striving may cause frustration. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Experiments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiments/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Perfection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfection/) ## Related quotes > [“Nothing human is merely human,” writes the theologian Ronald Modras. “No common labor is merely common. Classrooms, hospitals, and artists’ studios are sacred spaces.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-manney/nothing-human-is-merely-human-writes-the-theologian-ronald-modras-no/) Jim Manney > [“Wasn’t I merely human, just a poor simple guy who had been drawn into doing things against my feelings that not even God would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/wasn-t-i-merely-human-just-a-poor-simple-guy-who-had-been-drawn-into/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there's nothing left for you to work towards. I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cicely-tyson/i-think-when-you-begin-to-think-of-yourself-as-having-achieved/) [Cicely Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cicely-tyson/) > [There's no such thing as Perfection. But, in striving for perfection, we can achieve excellence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vince-lombardi/there-s-no-such-thing-as-perfection-but-in-striving-for-perfection-we/) [Vince Lombardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vince-lombardi/) > [“Where was the Jew in him? You couldn't find it and yet you knew it was there. Where was the irrationality in him? Where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/where-was-the-jew-in-him-you-couldn-t-find-it-and-yet-you-knew-it-was/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [The mind, the soul, becomes ennobled by the endeavour to create something perfect, for God is perfection, and whoever strives after perfection is striving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelangelo/the-mind-the-soul-becomes-ennobled-by-the-endeavour-to-create/) [Michelangelo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelangelo/) > [I cannot conceive such a Being could make such a Species as the human, merely to live and die on this earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/i-cannot-conceive-such-a-being-could-make-such-a-species-as-the-human/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [“The anti-human, the merely animal, consists in staying within the sphere of feeling, and being able to communicate only at that level". (1807, § 69).”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-anti-human-the-merely-animal-consists-in-staying-within-the/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [The whole of a human being is merely a vertebra.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorenz-oken/the-whole-of-a-human-being-is-merely-a-vertebra/) [Lorenz Oken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorenz-oken/) > [Merely being human is morally significant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-crary/merely-being-human-is-morally-significant/) Alice Crary > [“and it never occurs to me that you are neither angel nor devil but merely human like me. (and I am very sorry for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tah-the-trickster/and-it-never-occurs-to-me-that-you-are-neither-angel-nor-devil-but/) Tah the Trickster > [“If the Niess were merely human, the world built on their inhumanity would fall apart. So… they made us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-k-jemisin/if-the-niess-were-merely-human-the-world-built-on-their-inhumanity/) [N.K. Jemisin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-k-jemisin/) > [We make a mistake forsaking England and moving out into the periphery of life. After all, Taormina, Ceylon, Africa, America -- as far as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/we-make-a-mistake-forsaking-england-and-moving-out-into-the-periphery/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [When we are not realized, we are moving on the periphery, like a wheel and we are disturbed. But a realized soul is on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/when-we-are-not-realized-we-are-moving-on-the-periphery-like-a-wheel/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [All right, I am often brash, rude and brutally direct. Someday I'm going to die and I don't have time to toe-dance around the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mel-brooks/all-right-i-am-often-brash-rude-and-brutally-direct-someday-i-m-going/) [Mel Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mel-brooks/) ## More by Hermann Hesse > [Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/only-within-yourself-exists-the-other-reality-for-which-you-long-i/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Therefore, I see whatever exists as good, death is to me like life, sin like holiness, wisdom like foolishness, everything has to be as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/therefore-i-see-whatever-exists-as-good-death-is-to-me-like-life-sin/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [A home isn't just a roof over our heads. A home is a place where we feel loved and where we love others. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/a-home-isn-t-just-a-roof-over-our-heads-a-home-is-a-place-where-we/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Fortunately, like most children, I had learned what is most valuable, most indispensable for life before school years began, taught by apple trees, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/fortunately-like-most-children-i-had-learned-what-is-most-valuable/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“The mistaken and unhappy notion that a man is an enduring unity is known to you. It is also known to you that a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/the-mistaken-and-unhappy-notion-that-a-man-is-an-enduring-unity-is/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“... it would be better for our country and the world in general, if at least the few people who were capable of thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/it-would-be-better-for-our-country-and-the-world-in-general-if-at/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/the-bird-fights-its-way-out-of-the-egg-the-egg-is-the-world-who-would/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/everything-becomes-a-little-different-as-soon-as-it-is-spoken-out-loud/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/it-may-be-important-to-great-thinkers-to-examine-the-world-to-explain/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“..it is useless for you to build walls and dormitories and chapels and churches. Death looks through the window and laughs..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/it-is-useless-for-you-to-build-walls-and-dormitories-and-chapels-and/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“When the world is at peace, when all things are tranquil and all men obey their superiors in all their courses, then music can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/when-the-world-is-at-peace-when-all-things-are-tranquil-and-all-men/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [A mere nothing suffices — and the lightning strikes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/a-mere-nothing-suffices-and-the-lightning-strikes/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“And if time is not real, then the dividing line that seems to lie between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/and-if-time-is-not-real-then-the-dividing-line-that-seems-to-lie/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Beautiful was this world, looking at it thus, without searching, thus simply, thus childlike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/beautiful-was-this-world-looking-at-it-thus-without-searching-thus/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Were not the gods forms created like me and you, mortal, transient?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/were-not-the-gods-forms-created-like-me-and-you-mortal-transient/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) [Explore all 951 Hermann Hesse quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) ## More Experiments quotes > [I wrote when I was a young teen, but I didn't put an eye on the available markets until I was seventeen. 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Nuclear bomb fallout radiation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/the-global-population-of-earth-are-involved-in-the-following/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [Liberalism is the philosophy for our time, because it does not try to conserve every tradition of the past, because it does not apply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-trudeau/liberalism-is-the-philosophy-for-our-time-because-it-does-not-try-to/) [Pierre Trudeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-trudeau/) > [On July 26, 1916, I announced to all my friends in America that from now on I resolved to write no more poems in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hu-shih/on-july-26-1916-i-announced-to-all-my-friends-in-america-that-from/) [Hu Shih](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hu-shih/) > [The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-prediction-of-nuclear-winter-is-drawn-not-of-course-from-any/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The laws of thermodynamics, as empirically determined, express the approximate and probable behavior of systems of a great number of particles, or, more precisely,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-willard-gibbs/the-laws-of-thermodynamics-as-empirically-determined-express-the/) J. Willard Gibbs > [When I paint, I never think of selling. People simply fail to understand that we paint in order to experiment and to develop ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edvard-munch/when-i-paint-i-never-think-of-selling-people-simply-fail-to/) [Edvard Munch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edvard-munch/) > [Once, as an experiment, I travelled around the world with a single suit. Before I left, I went to a tailor in Savile Row…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-hamilton/once-as-an-experiment-i-travelled-around-the-world-with-a-single-suit/) [George Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-hamilton/) > [Biochemists and biologists who adhere blindly to the Darwinism theory search for results that will be in agreement with their theories and consequently orient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-paul-grasse/biochemists-and-biologists-who-adhere-blindly-to-the-darwinism-theory/) [Pierre-Paul Grasse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-paul-grasse/) > [When people are suicidal, their thinking is paralyzed, their options appear spare or nonexistent, their mood is despairing, and hopelessness permeates their entire mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/when-people-are-suicidal-their-thinking-is-paralyzed-their-options/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/it-is-as-foolish-to-make-experiments-upon-the-constancy-of-a-friend/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [An observer situated in a nebula and moving with the nebula will observe the same properties of the universe as any other similarly situated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-bondi/an-observer-situated-in-a-nebula-and-moving-with-the-nebula-will/) [Hermann Bondi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-bondi/) > [This isn't a picture filled with wonder and a sense of fun; it's so jaded and crass that I almost wonder if it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-zacharek/this-isn-t-a-picture-filled-with-wonder-and-a-sense-of-fun-it-s-so/) [Stephanie Zacharek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-zacharek/) > [Your responsibility as an artist is to experiment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/squarepusher/your-responsibility-as-an-artist-is-to-experiment/) Squarepusher > [Now, you might say – “But why should we pay people for doing what they’re supposed to do?” It’s a fair question – but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bloomberg/now-you-might-say-but-why-should-we-pay-people-for-doing-what-they-re/) [Michael Bloomberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bloomberg/) [Browse all 1,721 Experiments quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiments/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Each of us is merely one human being, merely an experiment, a way station. 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