Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught.

Hesse draws a sharp line between information that can be transmitted and the deeper, experiential insight he calls wisdom. Knowledge is portable—one can teach facts, methods, and doctrines—but wisdom is embodied and transformative: it is “found” through living, suffering, and inward change rather than through instruction. The quote also warns against mistaking eloquence or scholarship for enlightenment; even if wisdom enables “miracles” (profound acts of understanding or compassion), it resists being reduced to formulas. In Hesse’s broader spiritual-humanist outlook, this elevates personal experience and self-realization over mere learning, suggesting that the most important truths must be lived to be known.