Why should you want to give up a child's wise not-understanding in exchange for defensiveness and scorn, since not-understanding is, after all, a way of being alone, whereas defensiveness and scorn are a participation in precisely what, by these means, you want to separate yourself from.

Rainer Maria Rilke
About This Quote

The first part of this quote addresses an issue of parenting. Too often, parents are ridiculed for their parenting techniques. The second part of this quote is more philosophical in nature. It refers to the fact that not understanding something does not make the person who doesn’t understand better than those who do.

It also alludes to humanity’s ability to learn from its mistakes. Not understanding something is different from being defiant or scornful about it. If you don’t understand something, there is an opportunity to learn and grow from that mistake.

Source: Letters To A Young Poet

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