Rainer Maria Rilke was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He was born on December 4, 1875, in Prague, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now the capital of the Czech Republic. Rilke is widely considered one of the most significant poets in the German language and is known for his lyrical and introspective style.
Rilke’s works often explore themes of love, solitude, and the search for meaning in life. He is best known for his collection of poems titled “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets to Orpheus.” Rilke’s writing is characterized by its rich imagery, emotional depth, and philosophical reflections.
Throughout his life, Rilke traveled extensively and lived in various European countries, including Germany, France, and Switzerland. He had a close relationship with the visual arts and was influenced by artists such as Auguste Rodin and Paula Modersohn-Becker.
Rainer Maria Rilke died on December 29, 1926, in Val-Mont, Switzerland. His works continue to be celebrated and studied for their profound insights into the human condition.
1. “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.”
2. “Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.”
3. “The only journey is the one within.”
4. “You must give birth to your images. They are the future waiting to be born.”
5. “Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good.”
6. “The only sadnesses that are dangerous and unhealthy are the ones that we carry around in public in order to drown them out with the noise.”
7. “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.”
8. “Don’t be too quick to draw conclusions from what happens to you; simply let it happen.”
9. “The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.”
10. “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
11. “You are not too old, and it is not too late to dive into your increasing depths where life calmly gives out its own secret.”
12. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
13. “Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect, and greet each other.”
14. “Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.”
15. “The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is experience of receiving and bearing.”
16. “Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.”
17. “The only way to overcome grief is to go through it.”
18. “The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.”
19. “I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.”
20. “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.”
21. “You must change your life.”
22. “The artist is the guardian of the world.”
23. “The more personal, the more universal.”
24. “To love is good, too: love being difficult. For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks.”
25. “The world is not a problem to be solved; it is a living being to which we belong.”
26. “Everything is gestation and then birthing.”
27. “I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.”
28. “Let us be silent, so that we may hear the whispers of the gods.”
These quotes reflect the profound and introspective nature of Rainer Maria Rilke’s writings.