'Siddhartha,' he said, 'why are you waiting?'
'You know why.'
'Will you go on standing and waiting until it is day.
noon, evening?'
'I will stand and wait.'
'You will grow tired, Siddhartha.'
'I will grow tired.'
'You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.'
'I will not fall asleep.'
'You will die, Siddhartha.'
'I will die.'
 
Siddhartha is a spiritual pilgrim, who earnestly desires to seek truth and transcendent knowledge. Trapped in a cycle of losing and regaining his Self. he believes there must be a better way to attain Nirvana. He gradually begins to see life as a river-like the flow of the river, events in his life seem inevitable, repetitive, and even circular-and trying to resist the river's current seems senseless. Through this, Siddhartha truly internalizes these notions and begins to understand the ideas of timelessness and peace.
This celebrated classic by Hermann Hesse assimilates disparate philosophies- Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism-into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man's search for true meaning.