Toward the end of the book (the time is 1914) Demian says to his friend Sinclair: “… The new is beginning and for those who cling to the old the new will be horrible. What will you do?” The right answer would be: “Assist the new without sacrificing the old.”

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) German writer, critic, philanthropist, Nobel laureate [Paul Thomas Mann]

Introduction (1947) to Hermann Hesse, Demian: The Story of Emile Sinclair’s Youth (1919) [tr. Roloff and Lebeck (1965)]