Rainer Maria Rilke

Literature Austrian 1875 – 1926 255 quotes

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)

The greatest teacher is experience.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest student is the one who never stops learning.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest journey is the one within.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest adventure is to live your dreams.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest gift you can give yourself is to be yourself.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest love is the love of God.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest faith is to believe in yourself.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest hope is to never give up.

Letters to a Young Poet

The greatest joy is to be alive.

Letters to a Young Poet

For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror which we are barely able to endure, and it amazes us so much because it serenely disdains to destroy us.

Duino Elegies 1923

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 then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Letters to a Young Poet 1903

This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love: the more they give, the more they possess.

Sonnets to Orpheus

And you, who are so new, so young, so far from any knowledge of the world, you must be patient with everything that remains unsolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.

Letters to a Young Poet 1903

The great secret of life is to live for others.

Book of Hours

To be loved means to be consumed. To love means to burn with an unfading light, to make yourself an offering.

Book of Hours

Don't imagine that I am trying to give you advice. That is the last thing I want to do. All I want is to help you to become yourself, to be what you are, to be what you were meant to be.

Letters to a Young Poet 1903

Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don't know what work these conditions are performing within you?

Letters to a Young Poet 1903

The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person's solitude.

Letters to a Young Poet

We are all like that. We have to be. We have to be able to endure the loneliness, the fear, and the emptiness of our lives. We have to be able to live with the knowledge that we are alone in the universe.

Letters to a Young Poet

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Letters to a Young Poet