Rainer Maria Rilke

1875 - 1926

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is best known for his lyrical poetry and prose, particularly his collection of poems "Duino Elegies" and "Letters to a Young Poet." Rilke's work is celebrated for its sensitive and profound exploration of the human condition and the nature of art.

Spring has come again. The earth is like a child that has learned poems by heart.

Sonnets to Orpheus, Part One, XXI

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

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

No one can advise and help you, no one. There is only one way: go within.

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Letters to a Young Poet, 1929

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

The only journey is the one within.