...it had been my hope to write a work of some length in which i intended to bring closer to people the grandiose and mute life of nature, that they might love it. i wanted to teach people to listen to the pulse of nature, to partake of the wholeness of life and not forget, under the pressure of their petty destinies, that we are not gods and have not created ourselves but are children of the earth, part of the cosmos. i wanted to remind them that night, rivers, oceans, drifting clouds, storms, like creatures of the poet's imagination and of our dreams, are symbols and bearers of our yearning that spread their wings between heaven and earth, their objectives being the indubitable right to life and the immortality of all living things. each being's innermost core is certain of theses rights as a child of God, and reposes without fear in the lap of eternity. everything evil, sick, and diseased that we carry in us contradicts life and proclaims death. but i also wanted to teach men to find the sources of joy and life in the love of nature. i wanted to preach the pleasures of looking at nature, of wandering in it, and of taking delight in the present.

i wanted to let mountains, oceans, and green islands speak to you convincingly with their enticing tongues, and wanted to compel you to see the immeasurably varied and exuberant life blossoming and overflowing outside your houses and cities each and every day. i wanted you to feel ashamed of knowing more about foreign wars, fashions, gossip, literature, and art than of the springs bursting forth outside your towns, than of the rivers flowing under your bridges, than of the forests and marvelous meadows through which your railroads speed. i wanted to let you know what a golden chain of unforgettable pleasures i, a melancholy recluse, had found in this world and i desired that you, who are perhaps happier and more cheerful than i, should discover even greater joy in it.

above all, i wanted to implant the secret of love in your hearts. i hoped to teach you to be brothers to all living things, and become so full of love that you will not fear even sorrow and death and receive them like brothers and sisters when they come to you.

-hesse, peter camenzind