Rainer Maria Rilke
Greatest lyric poet of the 20th century
Most quoted
"If you are a writer, you must be a writer. If you are a poet, you must be a poet. If you are a human being, you must be a human being. If you are a dog, you must be a dog. If you are a cat, you must be a cat. If you are a mouse, you must be a mouse. If you are a flea, you must be a flea. If you are a bacterium, you must be a bacterium. If you are a virus, you must be a virus. If you are a quark, you must be a quark. If you are a string, you must be a string. If you are a black hole, you must be a black hole. If you are a universe, you must be a universe. If you are nothing, you must be nothing. If you are everything, you must be everything."
— from Letters to a Young Poet
"And you, you who are so young, you must be patient with everything that is unresolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
— from Letters to a Young Poet
"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
— from Letters to a Young Poet, 1903
All quotes by Rainer Maria Rilke (255)
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.
Everything is gestation and then bringing forth. To let each impression and each germ of a feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark, in the unutterable, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one's own understanding, and with deep humility and patience to wait for the hour of its birth: that alone is living the artist's life, in understanding as in creating.
The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is experience of receiving and bringing forth.
What is it you want to change? Your life? Or the way you think about your life?
The only thing that will redeem us is that we are not quite so bad as we think.
There is no such thing as an insignificant life, only a life that is not lived.
Death is the next door. We're so afraid of it, but it's just the next door.
If you will only realize that the least of your thoughts can be a prayer, the least of your deeds a sacrifice, the least of your words a blessing, then you will begin to live a life of prayer, sacrifice, and blessing.
The only courage that matters is the kind that makes you stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.
We are not to be surprised that we are not yet able to grasp the meaning of life, for we are still living it.
And this is the wonder of wonders, that the soul should be able to contain so much, and yet be so small.
The only way to be truly happy is to love what you do and do what you love.
Everything that is alive is a part of God.
The highest purpose of art is to inspire.
The world is not a place to be conquered, but a place to be loved.
We are here to say: house, bridge, well, gate, jug, fruit tree, window, – at most: column, tower… But to say them, you must understand. Oh, to say them as the things themselves never dreamed of existing so intensely.
The only true revolution is the revolution of the heart.
Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps all the terrible things are, in their deepest being, only helpless things that need our love.
And you, you who are so young, you should begin to love without measure, without calculation, without waiting for anything in return, because only in this way can love be true.
Everything is gestation and then bringing forth. To let each impression and each germ of a feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark, in the unsayable, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one's own understanding, and with deep humility and patience to await the hour of a new clarity: that alone is living the artist's life, in understanding as in creating.
Contemporaries of Rainer Maria Rilke
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926).