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100 Enlightening Quotes By Rainer Maria Rilke, The Author Of Letters To A Young Poet

Famous As: Austrian Poet and Novelist Known for His Poetry Collections ‘Duino Elegies’ and ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’
Born On: December 4, 1875
Died On: December 29, 1926
Born In: Prague, Czech Republic
Died At Age: 51

Rainer Maria Rilke was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist who is widely known as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poet. Rilke’s writing was unique in context that it helped expand the realm of poetry through new uses of syntax and imagery. What gave Rilke an edge over other writers of his generation was his use of physical symbols instead of intellectual ones. Unlike Shakespeare who thought of the non-human world in terms of the human, Rilke thought of the human in terms of the non-human. In his life, Rilke developed his own philosophy that rejected the Catholic beliefs and Christianity and instead reconciled beauty and suffering, life and death, into one philosophy. He did not believe that Christ was divine and instead argued Him to be entirely human. Over the years, Rilke’s work found new audiences through its use by New Age theologians and through frequent quoting in television programs, books and motion pictures. Other than his poetic verses and prose, Rilke’s line of belief and thought can also be visible in his quotes that touch wide variety of aspects of life. Browse through this section and find some of the best known quotes by Rainer Maria Rilke.   

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We need, in love, to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily; we do not need to learn it.

We need, in love, to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily; we do not need to learn it.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final

Let everything happen to you Beauty and terror Just keep going No feeling is final

Rainer Maria Rilke
I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.

I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.

Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.

Rainer Maria Rilke
The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.

The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other.

Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other.

Rainer Maria Rilke
The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.

The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. 
...live in the question.

Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. ...live in the question.

Rainer Maria Rilke
And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been

And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been

Rainer Maria Rilke
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure, and it amazes us so,
because it serenely disdains to destroy us.
Every angel is terrible.

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

Rainer Maria Rilke
The only journey is the one within.

The only journey is the one within.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.

Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.

Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.

Rainer Maria Rilke
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.

Rainer Maria Rilke
A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them - they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship.

A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them - they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.

Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.

I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.

Rainer Maria Rilke
It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.

It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Embrace your solitude and love it. Endure the pain it causes, and try to sing out with it. For those near to you are distant...

Embrace your solitude and love it. Endure the pain it causes, and try to sing out with it. For those near to you are distant...

Rainer Maria Rilke
The necessary thing is after all but this; solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours meeting no one - this one must be able to attain.

The necessary thing is after all but this; solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours meeting no one - this one must be able to attain.

Rainer Maria Rilke
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow

Rainer Maria Rilke
This is what the things can teach us: to fall, patiently to trust our heaviness. Even a bird has to do that before he can fly.

This is what the things can teach us: to fall, patiently to trust our heaviness. Even a bird has to do that before he can fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Think... of the world you carry within you.

Think... of the world you carry within you.

Rainer Maria Rilke
You are not too old 
and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths 
where life calmly gives out 
it's own secret

You are not too old and it is not too late to dive into your increasing depths where life calmly gives out it's own secret

Rainer Maria Rilke
Yet, no matter how deeply I go down into myself, my God is dark, and like a webbing made of a hundred roots that drink in silence.

Yet, no matter how deeply I go down into myself, my God is dark, and like a webbing made of a hundred roots that drink in silence.

Rainer Maria Rilke
May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.

May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.

Rainer Maria Rilke
That’s love: Two lonely persons keep each other safe and touch each other and talk to each other.

That’s love: Two lonely persons keep each other safe and touch each other and talk to each other.

Rainer Maria Rilke
If we surrendered
to earth's intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.

If we surrendered to earth's intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, and I have been circling for a thousand years, and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm, or a great song.

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, and I have been circling for a thousand years, and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm, or a great song.

Rainer Maria Rilke
But your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it you will find all your paths.

But your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it you will find all your paths.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Every angel is terrifying.

Every angel is terrifying.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I live not in dreams but in contemplation of a reality that is perhaps the future.

I live not in dreams but in contemplation of a reality that is perhaps the future.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

Rainer Maria Rilke
How can I keep my soul in me, so that it doesn't touch your soul? How can I raise it high enough, past you, to other things?

How can I keep my soul in me, so that it doesn't touch your soul? How can I raise it high enough, past you, to other things?

Rainer Maria Rilke
Everything terrible is something that needs our love.

Everything terrible is something that needs our love.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I am the rest between two notes which are somehow always in discord.

I am the rest between two notes which are somehow always in discord.

Rainer Maria Rilke
If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.

If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.

Rainer Maria Rilke
A billion stars go spinning through the night, / glittering above your head, / But in you is the presence that will be / when all the stars are dead.

A billion stars go spinning through the night, / glittering above your head, / But in you is the presence that will be / when all the stars are dead.

Rainer Maria Rilke
There are no classes in life for beginners: right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.

There are no classes in life for beginners: right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I love the dark hours of my being.
My mind deepens into them.
There I can find, as in old letters,
the days of my life, already lived,
and held like a legend, and understood.

I love the dark hours of my being. My mind deepens into them. There I can find, as in old letters, the days of my life, already lived, and held like a legend, and understood.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Most people come to know only one corner of their room, one spot near the window, one narrow strip on which they keep walking back and forth.

Most people come to know only one corner of their room, one spot near the window, one narrow strip on which they keep walking back and forth.

Rainer Maria Rilke
In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?

In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?

Rainer Maria Rilke
And you should not let yourself be confused in your solitude by the fact that there is something in you that wants to move out of it.

And you should not let yourself be confused in your solitude by the fact that there is something in you that wants to move out of it.

Rainer Maria Rilke
If no one else, the dying must notice how unreal, how full of pretense, is all that we accomplish here, where nothing is allowed to be itself.

If no one else, the dying must notice how unreal, how full of pretense, is all that we accomplish here, where nothing is allowed to be itself.

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

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

Rainer Maria Rilke
Our heart always transcends us.

Our heart always transcends us.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Shattered people are best represented by bits and pieces.

Shattered people are best represented by bits and pieces.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Comfort me from wherever you are–alone, we are quickly worn out; if I place my head on the road, let it seem softened by you. Could it be that even from afar we offer each other a gentle breath?

Comfort me from wherever you are–alone, we are quickly worn out; if I place my head on the road, let it seem softened by you. Could it be that even from afar we offer each other a gentle breath?

Rainer Maria Rilke
But there is much beauty here, because there is much beauty everywhere.

But there is much beauty here, because there is much beauty everywhere.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us yesterday, seperate, in the evening.

Perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us yesterday, seperate, in the evening.

Rainer Maria Rilke
The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.

The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Where something becomes extremely difficult and unbearable, there we also stand already quite near its transformation.

Where something becomes extremely difficult and unbearable, there we also stand already quite near its transformation.

Rainer Maria Rilke
She followed slowly, taking a long time,
As though there were some obstacles in the way;
And yet: as though, once it was overcome,
She would be beyond all walking, and would fly.

She followed slowly, taking a long time, As though there were some obstacles in the way; And yet: as though, once it was overcome, She would be beyond all walking, and would fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke
All the soarings of my mind begin in my blood.

All the soarings of my mind begin in my blood.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Who has not sat before his own heart's curtain? It lifts: and the scenery is falling apart.

Who has not sat before his own heart's curtain? It lifts: and the scenery is falling apart.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Let your beauty manifest itself
without talking and calculation.​
You are silent. It says for you: I am.
And comes in meaning thousandfold​,
comes at long last over everyone.

Let your beauty manifest itself without talking and calculation.​ You are silent. It says for you: I am. And comes in meaning thousandfold​, comes at long last over everyone.

Rainer Maria Rilke
He does not always remain bent over the
pages; he often leans back and closes
his eyes over a line he has been reading
again, and its meaning spreads through
his blood.

He does not always remain bent over the pages; he often leans back and closes his eyes over a line he has been reading again, and its meaning spreads through his blood.

Rainer Maria Rilke
It is part of the nature of every definitive love that sooner or later it can reach the beloved only in infinity.

It is part of the nature of every definitive love that sooner or later it can reach the beloved only in infinity.

Rainer Maria Rilke
As if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose.

As if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: there against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are.

Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: there against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Strangely, I heard a stranger say, I am with you.

Strangely, I heard a stranger say, I am with you.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Earth, my dearest, oh believe me, you no longer need your springtimes to win me over...Unspeakably, I have belonged to you, from the flush.

Earth, my dearest, oh believe me, you no longer need your springtimes to win me over...Unspeakably, I have belonged to you, from the flush.

Rainer Maria Rilke
But because truly being here is so much; because everything here apparently needs us, this fleeting world, which in some strange way keeps calling to us. Us, the most fleeting of all.

But because truly being here is so much; because everything here apparently needs us, this fleeting world, which in some strange way keeps calling to us. Us, the most fleeting of all.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Rainer Maria Rilke
It is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.

It is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.

Rainer Maria Rilke
It is a tremendous act of violence to begin anything. I am not able to begin. I simply skip what should be the beginning.

It is a tremendous act of violence to begin anything. I am not able to begin. I simply skip what should be the beginning.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Never forget that solitude is my lot ... I implore those who love me to love my solitude.

Never forget that solitude is my lot ... I implore those who love me to love my solitude." (Letter to Mimi Romanelli, May 11, 1910)

Rainer Maria Rilke
Girls, there are poets who learn from you
to say, what you, in your aloneness, are;
and they learn through you to live distantness,
as the evenings through the great stars
become accustomed to eternity.

Girls, there are poets who learn from you to say, what you, in your aloneness, are; and they learn through you to live distantness, as the evenings through the great stars become accustomed to eternity.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Whoever you are, go out into the evening,
leaving your room, of which you know every bit;
your house is the last before the infinite,
whoever you are.

Whoever you are, go out into the evening, leaving your room, of which you know every bit; your house is the last before the infinite, whoever you are.

Rainer Maria Rilke
The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.

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

Rainer Maria Rilke
You darkness, that I come from, I love you more than all the fires that fence in the world.

You darkness, that I come from, I love you more than all the fires that fence in the world.

Rainer Maria Rilke
A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.

A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Destiny itself is like a wonderful wide tapestry in which every thread is guided by an unspeakable tender hand, placed beside another thread and held and carried by a hundred others.

Destiny itself is like a wonderful wide tapestry in which every thread is guided by an unspeakable tender hand, placed beside another thread and held and carried by a hundred others.

Rainer Maria Rilke
That is the principal thing-not to remain with the dream, with the intention, with the being-in-the-mood, but always forcibly to convert it all into things.

That is the principal thing-not to remain with the dream, with the intention, with the being-in-the-mood, but always forcibly to convert it all into things.

Rainer Maria Rilke
The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is experience of receiving and bearing.

The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is experience of receiving and bearing.

Rainer Maria Rilke
There is only one journey. Going inside yourself.

There is only one journey. Going inside yourself.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism. Only love can touch and hold them and be fair to them.

Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism. Only love can touch and hold them and be fair to them.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I have never been aware before how many faces there are. There are quantities of human beings, but there are many more faces, for each person has several.

I have never been aware before how many faces there are. There are quantities of human beings, but there are many more faces, for each person has several.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Perhaps somewhere, someplace deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad.

Perhaps somewhere, someplace deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Rose, oh pure contradiction, joy
of being No-one's sleep under so many
lids.

Rose, oh pure contradiction, joy of being No-one's sleep under so many lids.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Perhaps then, some day far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

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

Rainer Maria Rilke
Look, I am living. On what? Neither
 childhood nor future
lessens . . . . Superabundant existence
wells in my heart.

Look, I am living. On what? Neither childhood nor future lessens . . . . Superabundant existence wells in my heart.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Life is heavier than the weight of all things.

Life is heavier than the weight of all things.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone enough

I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone enough

Rainer Maria Rilke
You are nearing the land that is life; you will recognize it by its seriousness.

You are nearing the land that is life; you will recognize it by its seriousness.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Everyone once, once only. Just once and no more. And we also once. Never again. But this having been once, although only once, to have been of the earth, seems irrevocable.

Everyone once, once only. Just once and no more. And we also once. Never again. But this having been once, although only once, to have been of the earth, seems irrevocable.

Rainer Maria Rilke
All things want to float.

All things want to float.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Beauty is only the start of bearable terror.

Beauty is only the start of bearable terror.

Rainer Maria Rilke
You, darkness, of whom I am born- I love you more than the flame that limits the world to the circle it illumines and excludes the rest.

You, darkness, of whom I am born- I love you more than the flame that limits the world to the circle it illumines and excludes the rest.

Rainer Maria Rilke
We are not allowed to linger, even with what is most intimate.

We are not allowed to linger, even with what is most intimate.

Rainer Maria Rilke
All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you.

All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Art too is just a way of living.

Art too is just a way of living.

Rainer Maria Rilke
So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp.

So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Do not allow yourself to be misled by the surfaces of things

Do not allow yourself to be misled by the surfaces of things

Rainer Maria Rilke
Your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes, far in the distance.

Your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes, far in the distance.

Rainer Maria Rilke
And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.

And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.

Rainer Maria Rilke
I am a house gutted by fire where only the guilty sometimes sleep before the punishment that devours them hounds them out in the open.

I am a house gutted by fire where only the guilty sometimes sleep before the punishment that devours them hounds them out in the open.

Rainer Maria Rilke
We make our way through Everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.

We make our way through Everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.

Rainer Maria Rilke