“There are a large number of people in the room, but one is unaware of them. They are in the books. At times they move among the pages, like sleepers turning over between two dreams. Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”

— Rainer Maria Rilke , book The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Source: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

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Rainer Maria Rilke 176

Austrian poet and writer 1875–1926

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“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”

Rainer Maria Rilke book The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Source: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

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“Poetry for the People rests upon a belief that the art of telling the truth is a necessary and a healthy way to create powerful, and positive, connections among people who, otherwise, remain (unknown and unaware) strangers. The goal is not to kill connections but, rather, to create and to deepen them among truly different men and women.”

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Context: 1. “The People” shall not be defined as a group excluding or derogating anyone on the basis of race, ethnicity, language, sexual preference, class, or age.
2. “The People” shall consciously undertake to respect and to encourage each other to feel safe enough to attempt the building of a community of trust in which all may try to be truthful and deeply serious in the messages they craft for the world to contemplate.
3. Poetry for the People rests upon a belief that the art of telling the truth is a necessary and a healthy way to create powerful, and positive, connections among people who, otherwise, remain (unknown and unaware) strangers. The goal is not to kill connections but, rather, to create and to deepen them among truly different men and women.