Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end. T. S. Eliot More Quotes by T. S. Eliot More Quotes From T. S. Eliot 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. T. S. Eliot atheistchristianperfect Birth, and copulation, and death; that's all the facts when you come to brass tacks. T. S. Eliot dyinglifedeath Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal. T. S. Eliot mediocrestealingcrafts The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an "objective correlative"; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula for that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked. T. S. Eliot eventsfactsart Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry. T. S. Eliot editorscriticismappreciation 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. T. S. Eliot eyelifetwo 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 ambitionlyingknowledge 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. T. S. Eliot hairbeachthinking I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. T. S. Eliot pairsshould-havesea The rats are underneath the piles/ The Jew is underneath the lot. T. S. Eliot jewrats Here were decent godless people; T. S. Eliot ballsgolfpeople The past and future / Are conquered, and reconciled. T. S. Eliot quartetspast 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 fightingsufferingmen Quick now, here, now, always- A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded Into the crowned knot of fire And the fire and the rose are one. T. S. Eliot flamesfirerose We must learn to suffer more. T. S. Eliot suffering No scheme for a change of society can be made to appear immediately palatable, except by falsehood, until society has become so desperate that it will accept any change. T. S. Eliot desperateacceptingclass 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? - T. S. Eliot trailsskirtssunset Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison. T. S. Eliot prisonkeysthinking 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. T. S. Eliot leavingfashionway I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river Is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable. T. S. Eliot strongriversthinking
