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.
Interpretation
The richness of life is perspective-based; one's mindset can bring out the beauty in everyday experiences.
Rainer Maria Rilke suggests that if we perceive our daily lives as lacking or insipid, it is a reflection of our own limited vision rather than an absence of abundance. He emphasizes that life is inherently full of beauty and potential, and it is our ability to creatively engage with our surroundings that allows us to discover this richness. By cultivating a poetic outlook, we can transform ordinary moments into extraordinary experiences.
In practice
In a motivational speech to inspire creativity in the workplace.
Spring has again returned. _x000D_ _x000D_ The Earth is like a child that knows many poems._x000D_ _x000D_ Many, O so many. For the hardship_x000D_ _x000D_ of such long learning she receives the prize._x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_ Strict was her teacher. _x000D_ _x000D_ The white in the old man's beard pleases us._x000D_ _x000D_ Now, what to call green, to call blue,_x000D_ _x000D_ we dare to ask: She knows, She knows!
Verses are not, as people think, feelings (those one has early enough) -- they are experiences. For the sake of a verse one must see many cities, men, and things, one must know the animals feel how birds fly, and know the gesture with which the little flowers open in the morning.
a good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude
He reproduced himself with so much humble objectivity, with the unquestioning, matter of fact interest of a dog who sees himself in a mirror and thinks: there's another dog.
The only journey is the one within.
And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been
Never let yesterday use up too much of today.
As a kid, this is what I wanted my life to be. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever dare to dream that it would be this.
Christ came to be Father's compassion to the world. Be kind in your actions. Do not think that you are the only one who can do efficient work, work worth showing. This makes you harsh in your judgment of others who may not have the same talents. Do your best and trust that others do their best. And be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.
The finished man, you know, is difficult to please; a growing mind will ever show you gratitude. --Faust 1, lines 182-3
The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.
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