Thomas Stearns Eliot OM, most commonly known as T.S. Eliot, was born on September 26, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. He was a playwright, essayist, and poet who became a leading figure of the Modernist literary movement. He was also a highly influential figure and the author of the long poems The Waste Land and Four Quartets. May these best T.S. Eliot quotes and sayings offer you insights that will help you traverse your journey of life.
1. “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important.” – T. S. Eliot
2. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Eliot
3. “Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.” – T. S. Eliot
4. “To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.” – T. S. Eliot
5. “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” – T. S. Eliot
6. “Home is where one starts from.” – T. S. Eliot
7. “If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life, then you must accept the terms it offers you.” – T. S. Eliot
8. “If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” – T. S. Eliot
9. “It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.” – T. S. Eliot
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10. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Eliot
11. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” – T. S. Eliot
12. “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.” – T. S. Eliot
13. “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” – T. S. Eliot
14. “Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.” – T. S. Eliot
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15. “I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing.” – T. S. Eliot
16. “The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.” – T. S. Eliot
17. “Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want; whatever you feel, be sure that is what you feel.” – T. S. Eliot
18. “The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.” – T. S. Eliot
19. “The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.” – T. S. Eliot
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20. “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” – T. S. Eliot
21. “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.” – T. S. Eliot
22. “A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can't be much good.” – T. S. Eliot
23. “People to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events.” – T. S. Eliot
24. “It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.” – T. S. Eliot
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25. “Success is relative. It is what we make of the mess we have made of things.” – T. S. Eliot
26. “There is not a more repulsive spectacle than on old man who will not forsake the world, which has already forsaken him.” – T. S. Eliot
27. “All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance.” – T. S. Eliot
28. “We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.” – T. S. Eliot
29. “Unreal friendship may turn to real. But real friendship, once ended, cannot be mended.” – T. S. Eliot
30. “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” – T. S. Eliot
More Famous Quotes by T.S. Eliot
31. “All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the public character; or at worst, catchwords.” – T. S. Eliot
32. “You are the music while the music lasts.” – T. S. Eliot
33. “It’s strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.” – T. S. Eliot
34. “Humour is also a way of saying something serious.” – T. S. Eliot
35. “Let's not be narrow, nasty, and negative.” – T. S. Eliot
36. “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” – T. S. Eliot
37. “If one can really penetrate the life of another age, one is penetrating the life of one's own.” – T. S. Eliot
38. “I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.” – T. S. Eliot
39. “The bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious, and conscious where he ought to be unconscious.” – T. S. Eliot
40. “In a world of fugitives, the person taking the opposite direction will appear to run away.” – T. S. Eliot
41. “There is no method but to be very intelligent.” – T. S. Eliot
42. “My greatest trouble is getting the curtain up and down.” – T. S. Eliot
43. “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
44. “You will have to live with those memories and make them into something new. Only by acceptance of the past will you alter its meaning.” – T. S. Eliot
45. “There is no absolute point of view from which real and ideal can be finally separated and labelled.” – T. S. Eliot
Share these T.S. Eliot Quotes on Life with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.
2. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Eliot
3. “Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.” – T. S. Eliot
4. “To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.” – T. S. Eliot
5. “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” – T. S. Eliot
6. “Home is where one starts from.” – T. S. Eliot
7. “If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life, then you must accept the terms it offers you.” – T. S. Eliot
8. “If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” – T. S. Eliot
9. “It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.” – T. S. Eliot
11. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” – T. S. Eliot
12. “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.” – T. S. Eliot
13. “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” – T. S. Eliot
14. “Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.” – T. S. Eliot
16. “The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.” – T. S. Eliot
17. “Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want; whatever you feel, be sure that is what you feel.” – T. S. Eliot
18. “The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.” – T. S. Eliot
19. “The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.” – T. S. Eliot
21. “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.” – T. S. Eliot
22. “A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can't be much good.” – T. S. Eliot
23. “People to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events.” – T. S. Eliot
24. “It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.” – T. S. Eliot
26. “There is not a more repulsive spectacle than on old man who will not forsake the world, which has already forsaken him.” – T. S. Eliot
27. “All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance.” – T. S. Eliot
28. “We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.” – T. S. Eliot
29. “Unreal friendship may turn to real. But real friendship, once ended, cannot be mended.” – T. S. Eliot
30. “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” – T. S. Eliot
More Famous Quotes by T.S. Eliot
31. “All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the public character; or at worst, catchwords.” – T. S. Eliot
32. “You are the music while the music lasts.” – T. S. Eliot
33. “It’s strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.” – T. S. Eliot
34. “Humour is also a way of saying something serious.” – T. S. Eliot
35. “Let's not be narrow, nasty, and negative.” – T. S. Eliot
36. “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” – T. S. Eliot
37. “If one can really penetrate the life of another age, one is penetrating the life of one's own.” – T. S. Eliot
38. “I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.” – T. S. Eliot
39. “The bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious, and conscious where he ought to be unconscious.” – T. S. Eliot
40. “In a world of fugitives, the person taking the opposite direction will appear to run away.” – T. S. Eliot
41. “There is no method but to be very intelligent.” – T. S. Eliot
42. “My greatest trouble is getting the curtain up and down.” – T. S. Eliot
43. “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
44. “You will have to live with those memories and make them into something new. Only by acceptance of the past will you alter its meaning.” – T. S. Eliot
45. “There is no absolute point of view from which real and ideal can be finally separated and labelled.” – T. S. Eliot
Share these T.S. Eliot Quotes on Life with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.