T. S. Eliot Quotes - Page 22

Quotes about:

Adventure Age Aging Ambition Appreciation Art Atheism

The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence

T. S. Eliot

Past, Historical, Perception

T.S. Eliot (2015). “The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volume I: Collected and Uncollected Poems”, p.478, Faber & Faber

11 Copy quote
The name that no human research can discover-- But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess. When you notice a cat in profound meditation, The reason, I tell you, is always the same: His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name: His ineffable effable Effanineffable Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

T. S. Eliot

Cat, Names, Profound

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats "The Naming of Cats" l. 25 (1939)

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

T. S. Eliot

Memories, Dark, Space

Prufrock (1917) "Rhapsody on a Windy Night"

4 Copy quote
Composing on the typewriter, I find that I am sloughing off all my long sentences which I used to dote upon. Short, staccato, like modern French prose. The typewriter makes for lucidity, but I am not sure that it encourages subtlety.

T. S. Eliot

Typewriters, Long, Crafts

T. S. Eliot (2011). “The Letters of T. S. Eliot Volume 1: 1898-1922”, p.240, Faber & Faber

4 Copy quote
My mind may be American but my heart is British.

T. S. Eliot

Heart, Mind, May

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

T. S. Eliot

Bridges, Crowds, London

The Waste Land l. 60 (1922).

9 Copy quote
I confess . . . that I am not myself very much concerned with the question of influence, or with those publicists who have impressed their names upon the public by catching the morning tide and rowing very vast in the direction in which the current was flowing; but rather that there should always be a few writers preoccupied in penetrating to the core of the matter, in trying to arrive at the truth and to set it forth, without too much hope, without ambition to alter the immediate course of affairs, and without being downcast or defeated when nothing appears to ensue.

T. S. Eliot

Morning, Ambition, Names

8 Copy quote
Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal.

T. S. Eliot

Crafts, Stealing, Mediocre

4 Copy quote
We are not here to triumph by fighting, by strata gem, or by resistance, not to fight with beasts as men. We have fought the beast and have conquered. We have only to conquer now, by suffering. This is the easier victory.

T. S. Eliot

Fighting, Men, Suffering

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.256, Faber & Faber

7 Copy quote
Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.

T. S. Eliot

Appreciation, Editors, Criticism

"Selected Essays".

16 Copy quote
In the end is my beginning.

T. S. Eliot

Ends

4 Copy quote
We must believe that "emotion recollected in tranquillity" is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity. It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not "recollected" and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is "tranquil" only in that it is a passive attending upon the event.

T. S. Eliot

Believe, Numbers, Atmosphere

"Reading Prose: An Introduction to Critical Study". Book by T. S. Eliot (p. 505), 1952.

10 Copy quote
The naming of cats is a difficult matter

T. S. Eliot

Cat, Matter, Difficult

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats "The Naming of Cats" l. 1 (1939)

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

T. S. Eliot

Strong, Paris, Danger

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Letters of T. S. Eliot Volume 1: 1898-1922”, p.537, Faber & Faber

7 Copy quote
The Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat: If you offer him pheasant he would rather have grouse. If you put him in a house he would much prefer a flat, If you put him in a flat then he'd rather have a house. If you set him on a mouse then he only wants a rat, If you set him on a rat then he'd rather chase a mouse. Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat - And there isn't any call for me to shout it: For he will do As he do do And there's no doing anything about it!

T. S. Eliot

Cat, House, Want

T. S. Eliot (2014). “Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats: with illustrations by Rebecca Ashdown”, p.18, Faber & Faber

5 Copy 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.

T. S. Eliot

Lying, Ambition, Knowledge

"Gerontion" l. 33 (1920)

7 Copy 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.

T. S. Eliot

Two, Progress, Were Meant To Be

'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' (1917)

8 Copy 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.

T. S. Eliot

Climbing, Despair, Fading

T.S. Eliot (2015). “The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volume I: Collected and Uncollected Poems”, p.91, Faber & Faber

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

T. S. Eliot

Army, Law, Watches

T. S. Eliot (2012). “The Waste Land, Prufrock and Other Poems”, p.21, Courier Corporation

4 Copy quote
The Civil War is not ended: I question whether any serious civil war ever does end.

T. S. Eliot

Peace, War, Doe

4 Copy quote
Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to turn Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope I no longer strive to strive towards such things (Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?) Why should I mourn The vanished power of the usual reign?

T. S. Eliot

Hope, Men, Eagles

T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.78, Faber & Faber

4 Copy quote
Think neither fear nor courage saves us. Unnatural vices are fathered by our heroism. Virtues are forced upon us by our impudent crimes. These tears are shaken from the wrath-bearing tree.

T. S. Eliot

Fear, Thinking, Wrath

1919 'Gerontion'.

4 Copy quote
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.

T. S. Eliot

Strong, Rain, Thinking

T. S. Eliot, “Four Quartets 3: The Dry Salvages”

7 Copy quote
When the Stranger says: "What is the meaning of this city? Do you huddle close together because you love each other?" What will you answer? "We all dwell together To make money from each other"? or "This is a community"? Oh my soul, be prepared for the coming of the Stranger. Be prepared for him who knows how to ask questions.

T. S. Eliot

Cities, Community, Soul

"The Rock". Play by T. S. Eliot, 1934.

7 Copy quote
It is impossible to say just what I mean!

T. S. Eliot

Mean, Impossible

T.S. Eliot (2015). “The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volume I: Collected and Uncollected Poems”, p.395, Faber & Faber

4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

William Butler Yeats

Ernest Hemingway

William Shakespeare

T. S. Eliot

Follow

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

Popular Topics