QuoteProject
Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life
Rainer Maria Rilke
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Art transcends language and embodies experiences that are difficult to express.

Rainer Maria Rilke's quote suggests that many experiences in life are beyond verbal articulation, particularly the experiences conveyed through art. He emphasizes that art possesses a unique, enduring quality that captures the essence of human experience in ways that words often cannot, existing in a realm that eludes direct expression and understanding in our transient lives.

Themes

ArtExperienceExpressionTranscendenceLife

In practice

Example use cases

During an art exhibition, one could reflect on how the artwork resonates with personal experiences that are difficult to articulate.

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

Similar quotes

I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space, whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.
Peter BrookRead
I find that my reading, particularly nonfiction, can inspire a poem as well as anything else.
Billy CollinsRead
The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.
Jean CocteauRead
The art of our necessities is strange That can make vile things precious.
William ShakespeareRead
We do not make photographs with our cameras. We make them with our minds, with our hearts, with our ideas.
Arnold NewmanRead
I tried writing out a plot with the second or third novel I wrote, and it was so boring, so desperately boring.
Philip PullmanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.