T. S. Eliot Quotes - Page 20

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

T. S. Eliot

Strength, Cake, Ice

T. S. Eliot (2014). “The Waste Land and Other Poems”, p.12, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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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.

T. S. Eliot

Stars, Laughter, Squad

T. S. Eliot (2012). “The Waste Land, Prufrock and Other Poems”, p.22, Courier Corporation

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With Cats, some say, one rule is true: Don’t speak till you are spoken to. Myself, I do not hold with that — I say, you should ad-dress a Cat. But always keep in mind that he Resents familiarity. I bow, and taking off my hat, Ad-dress him in this form: O Cat! But if he is the Cat next door, Whom I have often met before (He comes to see me in my flat) I greet him with an oopsa Cat! I think I've heard them call him James — But we've not got so far as names.

T. S. Eliot

Cat, Thinking, Doors

T.S. Eliot (2015). “The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volume II: Practical Cats and Further Verses”, p.33, Faber & Faber

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In my beginning is my end. In succession Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended, Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass. Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires, Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth Which is already flesh, fur and faeces, Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.

T. S. Eliot

Fall, Men, Fire

Four Quartets "East Coker" pt. 1 (1940)

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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.

T. S. Eliot

Humility, Men, Endless

1940 Four Quartets,'East Coker', pt.2.

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The endless cycle of idea and action, / Endless invention, endless experiment, / Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; / Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; / Knowledge of words, and ignorance of The Word.

T. S. Eliot

Ignorance, Ideas, Silence

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.129, Faber & Faber

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Before a Cat will condescend To treat you as a trusted friend, Some little token of esteem Is needed, like a dish of cream; And you might now and then supply Some caviare, or Strassburg Pie, Some potted grouse, or salmon paste — He's sure to have his personal taste. (I know a Cat, who makes a habit Of eating nothing else but rabbit, And when he's finished, licks his paws So's not to waste the onion sauce.) A Cat's entitled to expect These evidences of respect. And so in time you reach your aim, And finally call him by his name.

T. S. Eliot

Cat, Names, Pie

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.216, Faber & Faber

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Cats must have three names-an everyday name, such as Peter; a more particular, dignified name, such as Quaxo, Bombalurina, or Jellylorum; and, thirdly, the name the cat thinks up for himself, his deep and inscrutable singular Name.

T. S. Eliot

Cat, Thinking, Names

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If you find examples of humanism which are anti-religious, or at least in opposition to the religious faith of the place and time, then such humanism is purely destructive, for it has never found anything to replace what it has destroyed.

T. S. Eliot

Religious, Example, Found

T. S. Eliot (2014). “Selected Essays”, p.396, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent If the unheard, unspoken Word is unspoken, unheard; Still is the spoken word, the Word unheard, The Word without a word, the Word within The world and for the world; And the light shone in the darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled About the center of the silent Word. Oh my people, what have I done unto thee. Where shall the word be found, where shall the word Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence

T. S. Eliot

Light, People, Silence

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At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is.

T. S. Eliot

Dance, World, Flesh

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" pt. 2 (1936)

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[On The Waste Land:] Various critics have done me the honor to interpret the poem in terms of criticism of the contemporary world, have considered it, indeed, as an important bit of social criticism. To me it was only the relief of a personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life; it is just a piece of rhythmical grumbling.

T. S. Eliot

Land, Honor, Criticism

Quoted in The Waste Land, ed. Valerie Eliot (1971)

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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.

T. S. Eliot

Real, Passion, Mean

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We shall not cease from exploration

T. S. Eliot

Nature, Exploration, Cease

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" pt. 5 (1942)

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Why should men love the Church? Why should they love her laws?
She tells them of Life and Death, and of all that they would forget.

T. S. Eliot

Men, Law, Life And Death

T. S. Eliot (2014). “Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950”, p.115, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.

T. S. Eliot

Death, Communication, Fire

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" pt. 1 (1942)

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

T. S. Eliot

Car, Familiar, Motor Cars

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.134, Faber & Faber

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Here I am, an old man in a dry month,
Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.

T. S. Eliot

Rain, Boys, Men

"Gerontion" l. 1 (1920)

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

T. S. Eliot

Rocks, Sea, Paint

T.S. Eliot (2009). “Collected Poems 1909-1962”, p.35, Faber & Faber

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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.

T. S. Eliot

Time, Winter, Journey

"Journey of the Magi" l. 1 (1927)

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I think it was rather an advantage not having any living poets in England or America in whom one took any particular interest. I don't know what it would be like but I think it would be a rather troublesome distraction to have such a lot of dominating presences, as you call them, about. Fortunately we weren't bothered by each other.

T. S. Eliot

Thinking, America, Poetry

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The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap And seeing that it was a soft October night Curled once about the house, and fell asleep

T. S. Eliot

Fall, Night, Fog

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.7, Faber & Faber

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A toothache, or a violent passion, is not necessarily diminished by our knowledge of its causes, its character, its importance or insignificance.

T. S. Eliot

Passion, Character, Causes

"Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F.H. Bradley". Doctoral dissertation in philosophy; submitted to Harvard, ch. 1, 1916.

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There will be time to murder and create.

T. S. Eliot

Time, Window Panes, Murder

T. S. Eliot (2014). “The Waste Land and Other Poems”, p.10, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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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.

T. S. Eliot

Thinking, Rose, Poet

T. S. Eliot (2014). “Selected Essays”, p.256, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Born: September 26, 1888
Died: January 4, 1965
Occupation: Playwright
Cite this Page: Citation

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