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)
Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing to be so little approached as with criticism. Only love can grasp and hold and be just toward them.
If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches.
The great renewal of the world will perhaps consist in this, that man will have a new relation to death.
The highest form of love is to be the guardian of another's solitude.
And if you are still young, and if you are still in the beginning of your life, then you should not be afraid of anything, because everything is still possible.
The only true journey is the one that leads to the interior.
We are all like a tree, we grow in different directions, but our roots are one.
You are not too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.
We must take our hearts where we find them.
The only thing that will redeem the world is the love that it has for itself.
The future must not be bought, but must be created.
We are not to be surprised that we are still so far from understanding the world, for we are still so far from understanding ourselves.
The only true courage is to be afraid and still go on.
The true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.
The world is not a place to be understood, but to be loved.
Our heart is not a place to be filled, but a place to be emptied.
The only way to be truly happy is to be truly free.
Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.
Contemporaries of Rainer Maria Rilke
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926).