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Quotes by T. S. Eliot

Welcome to our collection of quotes by T. S. Eliot. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.

Wikipedia Summary for T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a prominent Boston Brahmin family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle, work, and marry there. He became a British citizen in 1927 at the age of 39, subsequently renouncing his American citizenship.

Eliot first attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in 1915, which was received as a modernist masterpiece. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including "The Waste Land" (1922), "The Hollow Men" (1925), "Ash Wednesday" (1930), and Four Quartets (1943). He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".

Quote: Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of A view of the night showing stars
Photo Credit: Adelin Preda

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.


Quote: Every moment is a fresh beginning. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Every moment is a fresh beginning.


Quote: Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of mountain dew during sunrise
Photo Credit: Paul Earle

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.


Quote: If you start with a bang, you won't end with a whimper. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of two women walking on bridge during daytime
Photo Credit: Julia Caesar

If you start with a bang, you won't end with a whimper.


Quote: If time and space, as sages say, Are things which cannot be, The sun which does not feel decay No greater is than we. So why, Love, should we ever pray To live a century? The butterfly that lives a day Has lived eternity. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

If time and space, as sages say, Are things which cannot be, The sun which does not feel decay No greater is than we. So why, Love, should we ever pray To live a century? The butterfly that lives a day Has lived eternity.


Quote: The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of shallow focus photography of orange flower
Photo Credit: Rafael Zamora

The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.


Quote: Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of circular light bokei wallpaper
Photo Credit: Sharon McCutcheon

Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.


Quote: You are the music while the music lasts. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

You are the music while the music lasts.


Quote: We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of pink petaled flower field
Photo Credit: Francis Cheung

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.


Quote: Moving between the legs of tables and of chairs, rising or falling, grasping at kisses and toys, advancing boldly, sudden to take alarm, retreating to the corner of arm and knee, eager to be reassured, taking pleasure in the fragrant brilliance of the Christmas tree. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote; white text on black background

Moving between the legs of tables and of chairs, rising or falling, grasping at kisses and toys, advancing boldly, sudden to take alarm, retreating to the corner of arm and knee, eager to be reassured, taking pleasure in the fragrant brilliance of the Christmas tree.


Quote: Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm, but the harm that they cause does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote: Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm, but the harm that they cause does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.- black text on quotes background

Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm, but the harm that they cause does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.


Quote: Accident is design
And design is accident
In a cloud of unknowing. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Accident is design
And design is accident
In a cloud of unknowing.


Quote: Either everything in man can be traced as a development from below, or something must come from above. There is no avoiding that dilemma: you must be either a naturalist or a supernaturalist. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Either everything in man can be traced as a development from below, or something must come from above. There is no avoiding that dilemma: you must be either a naturalist or a supernaturalist.


Quote: Truth on our level is a different thing from truth for the jellyfish. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Truth on our level is a different thing from truth for the jellyfish.


Quote: This love is silent. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

This love is silent.


Quote: The only wisdom we can hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless. The houses are all gone under the sea. The dancers are all gone under the hill. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless. The houses are all gone under the sea. The dancers are all gone under the hill.


Quote: Poetry is not an assertion of truth, but the making of that truth more fully real to us. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Poetry is not an assertion of truth, but the making of that truth more fully real to us.


Quote: They don't understand what it is to be awake,   To be living on several planes at once   Though one cannot speak with several voices at once. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

They don't understand what it is to be awake, To be living on several planes at once Though one cannot speak with several voices at once.


Quote: We can at least try to understand our own motives, passions, and prejudices, so as to be conscious of what we are doing when we apeal to those of others. This is very difficult, because our own prejudice and emotional bias always seems to us so rational. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We can at least try to understand our own motives, passions, and prejudices, so as to be conscious of what we are doing when we apeal to those of others. This is very difficult, because our own prejudice and emotional bias always seems to us so rational.


Quote: Paint me the bold anfractuous rocks Faced by the snarled and yelping seas. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Paint me the bold anfractuous rocks Faced by the snarled and yelping seas.


Quote: My mind may be American but my heart is British. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

My mind may be American but my heart is British.


Quote: Never commit yourself to a cheese without having first examined it. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Never commit yourself to a cheese without having first examined it.


Quote: The darkness declares the glory of light. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The darkness declares the glory of light.


Quote: No artist produces great art by a deliberate attempt to express his own personality. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

No artist produces great art by a deliberate attempt to express his own personality.




Quote: I am moved by fancies that are curled, around these images and cling, the notion of some infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I am moved by fancies that are curled, around these images and cling, the notion of some infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing.


Quote: It is generally a feminine eye that first detects the moral deficiencies hidden under the 'dear deceit' of beauty. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

It is generally a feminine eye that first detects the moral deficiencies hidden under the 'dear deceit' of beauty.


Quote: War is not a life: it is a situation, one which may neither be ignored nor accepted. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

War is not a life: it is a situation, one which may neither be ignored nor accepted.


Quote: Artistic inevitability lies in the complete adequacy of the external to the emotion. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Artistic inevitability lies in the complete adequacy of the external to the emotion.


Quote: The lot of man is ceaseless labor, Or ceaseless idleness, which is still harder. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The lot of man is ceaseless labor, Or ceaseless idleness, which is still harder.


Quote: Art serves us best precisely at that point where it can shift our sense of what is possible, when we know more than we knew before, when we feel we have -- by some manner of a leap -- encountered the truth. That, by the logic of art, is always worth the pain. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Art serves us best precisely at that point where it can shift our sense of what is possible, when we know more than we knew before, when we feel we have -- by some manner of a leap -- encountered the truth. That, by the logic of art, is always worth the pain.


Quote: Do I dare Disturb the universe? by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Do I dare Disturb the universe?


Quote: Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment.


Quote: Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other Who think the same thoughts without need of speech. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other Who think the same thoughts without need of speech.


Quote: We understand the ordinary business of living, 
We know how to work the machine. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We understand the ordinary business of living,
We know how to work the machine.


Quote: A book is not harmless merely because no one is consciously offended by it. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A book is not harmless merely because no one is consciously offended by it.


Quote: We took up
our positions, in obedience to instructions. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We took up
our positions, in obedience to instructions.


Quote: A prose that is altogether alive demands something of the reader that the ordinary novel reader is not prepared to give. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A prose that is altogether alive demands something of the reader that the ordinary novel reader is not prepared to give.


Quote: All art emulates the condition of ritual. That is what it comes from and to that it must always return for nourishment. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

All art emulates the condition of ritual. That is what it comes from and to that it must always return for nourishment.


Quote: You must not on any account give me credit for being penetrating. I have impressed people that way before, and the result is always disaster. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

You must not on any account give me credit for being penetrating. I have impressed people that way before, and the result is always disaster.


Quote: Every moment is a new and shocking transvaluation of all we have ever been. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Every moment is a new and shocking transvaluation of all we have ever been.


Quote: Here between the hither and the farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Here between the hither and the farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind.


Quote: I say to you: Make perfect your will.   I say: take no thought of the harvest,   But only of proper sowing. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I say to you: Make perfect your will. I say: take no thought of the harvest, But only of proper sowing.


Quote: Signs are taken for wonders.   'We would see a sign!'   The word within a word, unable to speak a word,   Swaddled with darkness. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Signs are taken for wonders. 'We would see a sign!' The word within a word, unable to speak a word, Swaddled with darkness.


Quote: A tradition without intelligence is not worth having. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A tradition without intelligence is not worth having.


Quote: The remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely.


Quote: Tradition: how the vitality of the past enriches the life of the present. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Tradition: how the vitality of the past enriches the life of the present.


Quote: A good deal of confusion could be avoided, if we refrained from setting before the group, what can be the aim only of the individual; and before society as a whole, what can be the aim only of the group. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A good deal of confusion could be avoided, if we refrained from setting before the group, what can be the aim only of the individual; and before society as a whole, what can be the aim only of the group.


Quote: And would it have been worth it, after all, Would it have been worth while, After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets, After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor -- And this, and so much more? . by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

And would it have been worth it, after all, Would it have been worth while, After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets, After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor -- And this, and so much more? .


Quote: Yeats was the greatest poet of our times ... certainly the greatest in this language, and so far as I am able to judge, in any language. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Yeats was the greatest poet of our times ... certainly the greatest in this language, and so far as I am able to judge, in any language.


Quote: It is not necessarily those lands which are the most fertile or most favored in climate that seem to me the happiest, but those in which a long struggle of adaptation between man and his environment has brought out the best qualities of both. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

It is not necessarily those lands which are the most fertile or most favored in climate that seem to me the happiest, but those in which a long struggle of adaptation between man and his environment has brought out the best qualities of both.


Quote: It seems just possible that a poem might happen to a very young man: but a poem is not poetry -That is a life. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

It seems just possible that a poem might happen to a very young man: but a poem is not poetry -That is a life.


Quote: Today, you're halfway to 100! Here's to optimism, whether it is realistic or not. Happy 50th birthday! by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Today, you're halfway to 100! Here's to optimism, whether it is realistic or not. Happy 50th birthday!


Quote: Those who talk of the bible as a monument of English prose are merely admiring it as a monument over the grave of Christianity. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Those who talk of the bible as a monument of English prose are merely admiring it as a monument over the grave of Christianity.


Quote: Anecdote: It is by no means self-evident that human beings are most real when most violently excited; violent physical passions do not in themselves differentiate men from each other, but rather tend to reduce them to the same state. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Anecdote: It is by no means self-evident that human beings are most real when most violently excited; violent physical passions do not in themselves differentiate men from each other, but rather tend to reduce them to the same state.


Quote: Genuine blasphemy, genuine in spirit and not purely verbal, is the product of partial belief, and is as impossible to the complete atheist as to the perfect Christian. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Genuine blasphemy, genuine in spirit and not purely verbal, is the product of partial belief, and is as impossible to the complete atheist as to the perfect Christian.


Quote: I was too slow a mover to be a boxer. It was much easier to be a poet. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I was too slow a mover to be a boxer. It was much easier to be a poet.


Quote: To each individual the world will take on a different connotation of meaning-the important lies in the desire to search for an answer. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

To each individual the world will take on a different connotation of meaning-the important lies in the desire to search for an answer.


Quote: Poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult...The poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into its meaning. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult...The poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into its meaning.


Quote: Every nation, every race, has not only its own creative, but its own critical turn of mind; and is even more oblivious of the shortcomings and limitations of its critical habits than of those of its creative genius. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Every nation, every race, has not only its own creative, but its own critical turn of mind; and is even more oblivious of the shortcomings and limitations of its critical habits than of those of its creative genius.


Quote: Gradually we come to admit that Shakespeare understands a greater extent and variety of human life than Dante; but that Dante understands deeper degrees of degradation and higher degrees of exaltation. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Gradually we come to admit that Shakespeare understands a greater extent and variety of human life than Dante; but that Dante understands deeper degrees of degradation and higher degrees of exaltation.


Quote: We see the light but see not whence it comes. O Light Invisible, we glorify Thee! by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We see the light but see not whence it comes. O Light Invisible, we glorify Thee!


Quote: Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground.


Quote: No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be: am an attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two, advise the prince. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be: am an attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two, advise the prince.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous-- Almost, at times, the Fool.




Quote: Teach us to care and not to care. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Teach us to care and not to care.


Quote: Art is the escape from personality. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Art is the escape from personality.


Quote: The purpose of a Christian education would not be merely to make men and women pious Christians: a system which aimed too rigidly at this end alone would become only obscurantist. A Christian education must primarily teach people to be able to think in Christian categories. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote; white text on black background

The purpose of a Christian education would not be merely to make men and women pious Christians: a system which aimed too rigidly at this end alone would become only obscurantist. A Christian education must primarily teach people to be able to think in Christian categories.


Quote: It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous. Resign yourself to be the fool you are... ...We must always take risks. That is our destiny. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous. Resign yourself to be the fool you are... ...We must always take risks. That is our destiny.


Quote: I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.


Quote: History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors and issues. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors and issues.


Quote: In spite of all the dishonour, the broken standards, the broken lives, The broken faith in one place or another, There was something left that was more than the tales Of old men on winter evenings. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

In spite of all the dishonour, the broken standards, the broken lives, The broken faith in one place or another, There was something left that was more than the tales Of old men on winter evenings.




Quote: Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand.


Quote: Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

Longer Version/[Notes]:

Shall I part my hair behind Do I dare to eat a peach I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.


Quote: A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.


Quote: When a great poet has lived, certain things have been done once for all, and cannot be achieved again. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

When a great poet has lived, certain things have been done once for all, and cannot be achieved again.


Quote: I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.


Quote: Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal.


Quote: If you want it you must obtain it by great labor. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

If you want it you must obtain it by great labor.


Quote: No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead.


Quote: Where does one go from a world of insanity? Somewhere on the other side of despair. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Where does one go from a world of insanity? Somewhere on the other side of despair.


Quote: The naming of cats is a difficult matter. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The naming of cats is a difficult matter.


Quote: There is no such thing as a lost cause, because there is no such thing as a gained cause. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

There is no such thing as a lost cause, because there is no such thing as a gained cause.


Quote: And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices in the lost lilac and the lost sea voices and the weak spirit quickens to rebel for the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell quickens to recover. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices in the lost lilac and the lost sea voices and the weak spirit quickens to rebel for the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell quickens to recover.


Quote: I love reading another reader's list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a most healthy exercise, and one altogether fruitful. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I love reading another reader's list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a most healthy exercise, and one altogether fruitful.


Quote: All dash to and fro in motor cars. Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

All dash to and fro in motor cars. Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere.


Quote: The hippopotamus's day Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts; God works in a mysterious way- The Church can sleep and feed at once. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The hippopotamus's day Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts; God works in a mysterious way- The Church can sleep and feed at once.


Quote: Fading, fading: strength beyond hope and despair climbing the third stair. Lord, I am not worthy Lord, I am not worthy but speak the word only. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Fading, fading: strength beyond hope and despair climbing the third stair. Lord, I am not worthy Lord, I am not worthy but speak the word only.


Quote: It has frequently been said that we never desire what we think absolutely inapprehensible: it is however true that some of our sharpest agonies are those in which the object of desire is regarded as both possible and imaginary. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

It has frequently been said that we never desire what we think absolutely inapprehensible: it is however true that some of our sharpest agonies are those in which the object of desire is regarded as both possible and imaginary.


Quote: I hate university towns and university people, who are the same everywhere, with pregnant wives, sprawling children, many books and hideous pictures on the walls ... Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I hate university towns and university people, who are the same everywhere, with pregnant wives, sprawling children, many books and hideous pictures on the walls ... Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead.


Quote: A people without history

Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern

Of timeless moments. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A people without history

Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern

Of timeless moments.


Quote: Desire itself is movement

Not in itself desirable;

Love is itself unmoving,

Only the cause and end of movement,

Timeless, and undesiring

Except in the aspect of time

Caught in the form of limitation

Between un-being and being. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Desire itself is movement

Not in itself desirable;

Love is itself unmoving,

Only the cause and end of movement,

Timeless, and undesiring

Except in the aspect of time

Caught in the form of limitation

Between un-being and being.


Quote: The only hope, or else despair

Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre -

To be redeemed from fire by fire. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The only hope, or else despair

Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre -

To be redeemed from fire by fire.


Quote: There are three conditions which often look alike Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow: Attachment to self and to things and to persons, detachment From self and from things and from persons; and, growing between them, indifference, ... . by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

There are three conditions which often look alike Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow: Attachment to self and to things and to persons, detachment From self and from things and from persons; and, growing between them, indifference, ... .


Quote: Words move, music moves Only in time; but that which is only living Can only die. Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Words move, music moves Only in time; but that which is only living Can only die. Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness.


Quote: Not less of love, but expanding Of love beyond desire, and so liberation From the Future as well as the past. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Not less of love, but expanding Of love beyond desire, and so liberation From the Future as well as the past.


Quote: Only through time time is conquered. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Only through time time is conquered.


Quote: And right action is freedom From past and future also. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

And right action is freedom From past and future also.


Quote: Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden.


Quote: A philosophy can and must be worked out with the greatest rigour and discipline in the details, but can ultimately be founded on nothing but faith: and this is the reason, I suspect, why the novelties in philosophy are only in elaboration, and never in fundamentals. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote; white text on black background

A philosophy can and must be worked out with the greatest rigour and discipline in the details, but can ultimately be founded on nothing but faith: and this is the reason, I suspect, why the novelties in philosophy are only in elaboration, and never in fundamentals.


Quote: The single Rose
Is now the Garden
Where all loves end. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The single Rose
Is now the Garden
Where all loves end.


Quote: If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.


Quote: I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid.


Quote: For I have known them all already, known them all-- Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

For I have known them all already, known them all-- Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.


Quote: Not only every great poet, but every genuine, but lesser poet, fulfils once for all some possibility of language, and so leaves one possibility less for his successors. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Not only every great poet, but every genuine, but lesser poet, fulfils once for all some possibility of language, and so leaves one possibility less for his successors.


Quote: We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors' victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors' victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.


Quote: Tennyson and Browning are poets, and they think; but they do not feel their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose. A thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Tennyson and Browning are poets, and they think; but they do not feel their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose. A thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility.


Quote: But at my back from time to time I hear The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring. O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter And on her daughter They wash their feet in soda water. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

But at my back from time to time I hear The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring. O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter And on her daughter They wash their feet in soda water.


Quote: You will find that you survive humiliation. And that's an experience of incalculable value. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

You will find that you survive humiliation. And that's an experience of incalculable value.


Quote: The end is where we start from. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The end is where we start from.


Quote: Music heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the music lasts. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Music heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the music lasts.


Quote: When war is not just it is subsequently justified; so it becomes many things. In reality, an unjust war is merely piracy. It consists of piracy, ego and, more than anything, money. War is our century's prostitution. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

When war is not just it is subsequently justified; so it becomes many things. In reality, an unjust war is merely piracy. It consists of piracy, ego and, more than anything, money. War is our century's prostitution.


Quote: A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why you come or where you go. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why you come or where you go.


Quote: It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.




Quote: Dayodhuam: I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Dayodhuam: I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.




Quote: I can connect Nothing with nothing. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I can connect Nothing with nothing.


Quote: I think we are in rats' alley Where the dead men lost their bones. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I think we are in rats' alley Where the dead men lost their bones.


Quote: There will be time, there will be time To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

There will be time, there will be time To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.


Quote: There will be time to murder and create. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

There will be time to murder and create.


Quote: Because these wings are no longer wings to fly But merely vans to beat the air The air which is now thoroughly small and dry Smaller and dryer than the will Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly But merely vans to beat the air The air which is now thoroughly small and dry Smaller and dryer than the will Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still.


Quote: That is the worst moment, when you feel you have lost   The desires for all that was most desirable,   Before you are contented with what you can desire;   Before you know what is left to be desired;   And you go on wishing that you could desire   What desire has left behind. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote; white text on black background

That is the worst moment, when you feel you have lost The desires for all that was most desirable, Before you are contented with what you can desire; Before you know what is left to be desired; And you go on wishing that you could desire What desire has left behind.




Quote: Writing every day is a way of keeping the engine running, and then something good may come out of it. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Writing every day is a way of keeping the engine running, and then something good may come out of it.


Quote: Culture is the one thing that we cannot deliberately aim at. It is the product of a variety of more or less harmonious activities, each pursued for its own sake. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Culture is the one thing that we cannot deliberately aim at. It is the product of a variety of more or less harmonious activities, each pursued for its own sake.


Quote: Hell is oneself, hell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections. There is nothing to escape from and nothing to escape to. One is always alone. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Hell is oneself, hell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections. There is nothing to escape from and nothing to escape to. One is always alone.


Quote: Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.


Quote: A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.


Quote: Upon the glazen shelves kept watch Matthew and Waldo, guardians of the faith The army of unalterable law. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Upon the glazen shelves kept watch Matthew and Waldo, guardians of the faith The army of unalterable law.


Quote: Till Human voices wake us, and we drown. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Till Human voices wake us, and we drown.


Quote: To men of a certain type The suspicion that they are incapable of loving Is as disturbing to their self-esteem As, in cruder men, the fear of impotence. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

To men of a certain type The suspicion that they are incapable of loving Is as disturbing to their self-esteem As, in cruder men, the fear of impotence.


Quote: Shape without form, shade without color, Paralyzed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us-if at all-not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Shape without form, shade without color, Paralyzed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us-if at all-not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men.


Quote: I do not approve the extermination of the enemy; the policy of exterminating or, as it is barbarously said, liquidating enemies, is one of the most alarming developments of modern war and peace, from the point of view of those who desire the survival. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I do not approve the extermination of the enemy; the policy of exterminating or, as it is barbarously said, liquidating enemies, is one of the most alarming developments of modern war and peace, from the point of view of those who desire the survival.


Quote: We have all our private terrors, our particular shadows, our secret fears. We are afraid in a fear which we cannot face, which none understands, and our hearts are torn from us, our brains unskinned like the layers of an onion, ourselves the last. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We have all our private terrors, our particular shadows, our secret fears. We are afraid in a fear which we cannot face, which none understands, and our hearts are torn from us, our brains unskinned like the layers of an onion, ourselves the last.


Quote: Success is relative. It is what we make of the mess we have made of things. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Success is relative. It is what we make of the mess we have made of things.


Quote: Stand on the highest pavement of the stair- Lean on a garden urn- Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Stand on the highest pavement of the stair- Lean on a garden urn- Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.


Quote: Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.


Quote: He is haunted by a demon, a demon against which he feels powerless, because in its first manifestation it has no face, no name, nothing; and the words, the poem he makes, are a kind of exorcism of this demon. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

He is haunted by a demon, a demon against which he feels powerless, because in its first manifestation it has no face, no name, nothing; and the words, the poem he makes, are a kind of exorcism of this demon.


Quote: I should have been a pair of ragged claws  Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.


Quote: Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past

Into different lives, or into any future;

You are not the same people who left that station

Or who will arrive at any terminus,

While the narrowing rails slide together behind you. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past

Into different lives, or into any future;

You are not the same people who left that station

Or who will arrive at any terminus,

While the narrowing rails slide together behind you.


Quote: Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?'
 But
O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag -- 
It's so elegant
So intelligent. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?'
But
O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag --
It's so elegant
So intelligent.


Quote: When the whole world is running headlong towards the precipice, one who walks in the opposite direction is looked at as being crazy. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

When the whole world is running headlong towards the precipice, one who walks in the opposite direction is looked at as being crazy.


Quote: Poetry should help, not only to refine the language of the time, but to prevent it from changing too rapidly. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Poetry should help, not only to refine the language of the time, but to prevent it from changing too rapidly.




Quote: The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is incarnation. Here the impossible union of spheres of existence is actual. Here the past and future are conquered and reconciled.


Quote: In order to possess what you do not possess, you must go by the way of dispossession. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

In order to possess what you do not possess, you must go by the way of dispossession.


Quote: In order to arrive at what you are not, you must go through the way in which you are not. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

In order to arrive at what you are not, you must go through the way in which you are not.


Quote: I shall not want Honor in Heaven For I shall meet Sir Philip Sidney And have talk with Coriolanus And other heroes of that kidney. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I shall not want Honor in Heaven For I shall meet Sir Philip Sidney And have talk with Coriolanus And other heroes of that kidney.


Quote: Between the desire And the spasm, Between the potency And the existence, Between the essence And the descent, Falls the Shadow. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Between the desire And the spasm, Between the potency And the existence, Between the essence And the descent, Falls the Shadow.


Quote: The Rum Turn Tugger is a terrible bore: When you let him in, then he wants to be out; He's always on the wrong side of every door, And as soon as he's at home, then he'd like to get about. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The Rum Turn Tugger is a terrible bore: When you let him in, then he wants to be out; He's always on the wrong side of every door, And as soon as he's at home, then he'd like to get about.


Quote: And through the spaces of the dark Midnight shakes the memory As a madman shakes a dead geranium. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

And through the spaces of the dark Midnight shakes the memory As a madman shakes a dead geranium.


Quote: The historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of literature from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote; white text on black background

The historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of literature from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order.


Quote: What is this self-inside us, this silent observer, severe and speechless critic, who can terrorize us, and urge us onto futile activity, and in the end, judge us still more severely for the errors into which his own reproaches drove us? by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

What is this self-inside us, this silent observer, severe and speechless critic, who can terrorize us, and urge us onto futile activity, and in the end, judge us still more severely for the errors into which his own reproaches drove us?


Quote: The overwhelming pressure of mediocrity, sluggish and indomitable as a glacier, will mitigate the most violent, and depress the most exalted revolution. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The overwhelming pressure of mediocrity, sluggish and indomitable as a glacier, will mitigate the most violent, and depress the most exalted revolution.


Quote: Words strain, crack, and sometime break, under the burden. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Words strain, crack, and sometime break, under the burden.


Quote: We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.


Quote: Ash on an old man's sleeve   Is all the ash the burnt roses leave,   Dust in the air suspended   Marks the place where a story ended. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Ash on an old man's sleeve Is all the ash the burnt roses leave, Dust in the air suspended Marks the place where a story ended.


Quote: The old should be explorers, be curious, risk transgression, explore oldness itself. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The old should be explorers, be curious, risk transgression, explore oldness itself.




Quote: I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river Is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river Is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable, Patient to some degree, at first recognized as a frontier; Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce; Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges. The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten By the dwellers in cities-ever, however, implacable. Keeping his seasons, and rages, destroyer, reminder Of what men choose to forget. Unhonored, unpropitiated By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.


Quote: To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.


Quote: In a mind charged with an eager purpose and an unfinished vindictiveness, there is no room for new feelings. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

In a mind charged with an eager purpose and an unfinished vindictiveness, there is no room for new feelings.


Quote: At the violet hour, when the eyes and back Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits Like a taxi throbbing waiting I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

At the violet hour, when the eyes and back Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits Like a taxi throbbing waiting I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives.


Quote: After such knowledge, what forgiveness? Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions Guides us by vanities. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

After such knowledge, what forgiveness? Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions Guides us by vanities.


Quote: That was my way of putting it-not very satisfactory: A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion, Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle With words and meanings. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

That was my way of putting it-not very satisfactory: A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion, Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle With words and meanings.


Quote: And now you live dispersed on ribbon roads, And no man knows or cares who is his neighbor Unless his neighbor makes too much disturbance, But all dash to and fro in motor cars, Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

And now you live dispersed on ribbon roads, And no man knows or cares who is his neighbor Unless his neighbor makes too much disturbance, But all dash to and fro in motor cars, Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere.


Quote: There are flood and drought over the eyes and in the mouth, dead water and dead sand contending for the upper hand. The parched eviscerate soil gapes at the vanity of toil, laughs without mirth. This is the death of the earth. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

There are flood and drought over the eyes and in the mouth, dead water and dead sand contending for the upper hand. The parched eviscerate soil gapes at the vanity of toil, laughs without mirth. This is the death of the earth.


Quote: At the beach -- time you enjoyed wasting, is not wasted. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

At the beach -- time you enjoyed wasting, is not wasted.


Quote: At the still point, there the dance is. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

At the still point, there the dance is.


Quote: Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.


Quote: The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

The winter evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways. Six o'clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And now a gusty shower wraps The grimy scraps Of withered leaves about your feet And newspapers from vacant lots; The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots, And at the corner of the street A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps. And then the lighting of the lamps.


Quote: The circle of our understanding is a very restricted area. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The circle of our understanding is a very restricted area.


Quote: I believe the moment of birth Is when we have knowledge of death I believe the season of birth Is the season of sacrifice. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

I believe the moment of birth Is when we have knowledge of death I believe the season of birth Is the season of sacrifice.


Quote: No one can become really educated without having pursued some study in which he took no interest- for it is a part of education to learn to interest ourselves in subjects for which we have no aptitude. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

No one can become really educated without having pursued some study in which he took no interest- for it is a part of education to learn to interest ourselves in subjects for which we have no aptitude.


Quote: Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.


Quote: Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Life is very long Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom For Thine is Life is For Thine is the This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.


Quote: Between the vision and the act lies the shadow. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Between the vision and the act lies the shadow.


Quote: Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?


Quote: The poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together.


Quote: Finding a way to live the simple life is one of life's supreme complications. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Finding a way to live the simple life is one of life's supreme complications.


Quote: As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a talent for squad-drill. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a talent for squad-drill.


Quote: So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are human: and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing: at least we exist. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are human: and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing: at least we exist.


Quote: Our emotions Are only incidents In the effort to keep day and night together. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Our emotions Are only incidents In the effort to keep day and night together.


Quote: Do I dare disturb the universe? by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Do I dare disturb the universe?


Quote: To country people Cows are mild,
And flee from any stick they throw;
But I'm a timid town bred child,
And all the cattle seem to know. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

To country people Cows are mild,
And flee from any stick they throw;
But I'm a timid town bred child,
And all the cattle seem to know.


Quote: O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark, The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark, The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant.


Quote: To approach the stranger is to invite the unexpected, release a new force, let the genie out of the bottle. It is to start a new train of events that is beyond your control. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

To approach the stranger is to invite the unexpected, release a new force, let the genie out of the bottle. It is to start a new train of events that is beyond your control.


Quote: Cling, swing, Spring, sing, Swing up into the apple tree. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Cling, swing, Spring, sing, Swing up into the apple tree.


Quote: The chief danger about Paris is that it is such a strong stimulant. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The chief danger about Paris is that it is such a strong stimulant.


Quote: A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many.


Quote: A woman drew her long black hair out tight, And fiddled whisper music on those strings, And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings, And crawled head downward down a blackened wall. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

A woman drew her long black hair out tight, And fiddled whisper music on those strings, And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings, And crawled head downward down a blackened wall.


Quote: Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky.

Longer Version/[Notes]:

Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats 5 Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question … 10 Oh, do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit. In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo.




Quote: Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of T. S. Eliot quote; white text on black background

Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.


Quote: Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of self. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of self.


Quote: Human kind cannot bear much reality. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

Human kind cannot bear much reality.


Quote: The immature poet imitates, the mature poet plagiarizes. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

The immature poet imitates, the mature poet plagiarizes.


Quote: An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. by author T. S. Eliot overlaid on photo of photo of author T. S. Eliot with quote

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.


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