Quotes from T.S. Eliot

And what did not happen is as true as what did happen

A current under sea Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell He passed the stages of his age and youth Entering the whirlpool.

I always feel it's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.

There are evil neighborhoods of noise and evil neighborhoods of silence, and Eeldrop and Appleplex preferred the latter, as being the more evil. It

Well! and what if she should die some afternoon, Afternoon grey and smoky, evening yellow and rose; Should die and leave me sitting pen in hand With the smoke coming down above the housetops; Doubtful, for a while Not knowing what to feel or if I understand Or whether wise or foolish, tardy or too soon . . . Would she not have the advantage, after all? This music is successful with a "dying fall" Now that we talk of dying— And should I have the right to smile?

Under the penitential gates Sustained by staring Seraphim Where the souls of the devout Burn invisible and dim.

Love compels cruelty To those who do not understand love.

You did not intend this, I did not intend it, No one intended, but . . . You must go.

Dov'è la Vita che abbiamo perduto vivendo? Dov'è la saggezza che abbiamo perduto sapendo? Dov'è la sapienza che abbiamo perduto nell'informazione?

The thousand sordid images Of which your soul was constituted; They flickered against the ceiling. And when all the world came back And the light crept up between the shutters, And you heard the sparrows in the gutters, You had such a vision of the street.

Meanwhile the substance of our first act Will be shadows, and the strife with shadows.

There's no memory you can wrap in camphor But the moths will get in.

Friendship should be more than biting Time can sever.

Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know What life is, you who hold it in your hands;

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,/All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,/... Where is the Life we have lost in living?/Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?/Where is the knowledge we have lost in information

The suburban evening was grey and yellow on Sunday; the gardens of the small houses to left and right were rank with ivy and tall grass and lilac bushes; the tropical South London verdure was dusty above and mouldy below; the tepid air swarmed with flies. Eeldrop, at the window, welcomed the smoky smell of lilac, the gramaphones, the choir of the Baptist chapel, and the sight of three small girls playing cards on the steps of the police station.

The end is just the beginning

Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse

Success is relative: It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things, It is what he can make, not what you would make for him.

I an old man, A dull head among windy spaces.

This is the use of memory: For liberation—not less of love but expanding Of love beyond desire, and so liberation From the future as well as the past. Thus, love of a country Begins as attachment to our own field of action

The general ethos of the people they have to govern determines the behaviour of politicians.

A little life

Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.