Difficult task Quote by Rainer Maria Rilke
““It is also good to love: because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation… Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person (for what would a union be of two people who are unclarified, unfinished, and still incoherent?), it is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person; it is a great, demanding claim on him, something that chooses him and calls him to vast distances... Merging and surrendering and every kind of communion is not for them (who must still, for a long, long time, save and gather themselves); it is the ultimate, is perhaps that for which human lives are as yet barely large enough.””
About This Quote
Source Poem: “The Book of Hours”, 1905
Love is a demanding, transformative task that requires personal growth, not just merging with another; it prepares us for deeper communion.
In simple terms: Love is hard but enriching.
Embrace love’s challenges for growth.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- marriage
- friendship
- spiritual practice
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What personal growth does love demand?
- How can you balance self‑development with partnership?
May idealize love without effort.