It is not inertia alone that is responsible for human relationships repeating themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope. But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical will live the relation to another as something alive.
Interpretation
Human relationships often fall into monotony due to shyness and fear of new experiences, but embracing the unknown makes them vibrant.
Rainer Maria Rilke suggests that the repetitive nature of human relationships stems from a reluctance to engage with new experiences and an inherent shyness. Those who are willing to embrace everything, including uncertainty and the unfamiliar, are more likely to foster dynamic and lively connections with others. By overcoming hesitation and openness to change, individuals can cultivate deeper, more meaningful relationships that defy monotony.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of embracing change in relationships.
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
It is easier to tell a story of how people wound one another than of what binds them together.
I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be
The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me.
We have found that it is easier for men to die together on the field of battle than it is for them to live together at home in peace.
Look to her, Moor, if thou has eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.
He’s gone, Harry told himself. He’s gone. He had to keep thinking it as he washed and dressed, as though repetition would dull the shock of it. He’s gone and he’s not coming back. And that was the simple truth of it, Harry knew, because their protective enchantments meant that it would be impossible, once they vacated this spot, for Ron to find them again.
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