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I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other.
Rainer Maria Rilke
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Each person in a relationship should respect and protect the other's individuality and personal space.

This quote emphasizes the importance of individuality within a relationship, suggesting that true intimacy involves allowing each person the freedom to be themselves. By protecting each other's solitude, partners can foster a deeper connection based on mutual respect and understanding, rather than dependency or suffocation.

Themes

RelationshipSolitudeIndividualityRespectConnection

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a wedding speech to highlight the importance of understanding and individuality in marriage.

More from Rainer Maria Rilke

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!
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a good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude
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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.
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The only journey is the one within.
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And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been
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