the novel siddartha greatly affected me as a teenager and changed the way that i looked at life. it taught me exactly that. it taught me that experience, wisdom cannot be taught, one must experience it themselves. "It is a good thing to experience everything oneself...As a child I learned that pleasures of the world and riches were not good. I have known it for a long time, but I have only just experienced it. Now I know it not only with my intellect, but with my ears, with my heart, with my stomach. It is a good thing that I know this."