69 T S Eliot Quotes That You Absolutely Should Read

T S Eliot quotes are a reflection of his deep and often complex views on life society and the human condition. His literature is reflected by these and it is a phenomenal read when you are obsessed with T S Eliot’s literature.

Here we will list and discuss about T S Eliot’s quotes for you to get to know as many T S Eliot quotes as you can. so sit tight and have an enjoyable Read.

Who Is T S Eliot?

Before we get to T S Eliot quotes, we should get to know more about T S Eliot, it is an effective way to understand T S Eliot quotes better and get to know where his unique perspective came from.

T S Eliot or Thomas Stearns Eliot was a towering figure in the 20th-century literary world. He was born in 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri, later he moved to England at the age of 25 and eventually became a British Citizen.

His literary work has a profound effect on modern literature. Eliot’s innovative use of language and exploration of themes that are complex such as identity, time, and spirituality won him the Novel Prize in Literature in 1948.

He has written many masterpieces that are highlight regarded even now in today’s world, Eliot’s contributions to literary criticism were just as significant in shaping the course of 20th-century English literature.

As such Eliot’s legacy of literature and T S Eliot quotes are a symbol of intellectual rigor and artistic innovation.

T S Eliot Quotes Listed

69 T S Eliot quotes are listed here for you to browse through to your heart’s content:

“The bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious, and conscious where he ought to be unconscious.”

“Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.”

“It is not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.”

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

“Poetry may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves.”

“The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

“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.”

“If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.”

“The journey, not the destination matters.”

“Finding a way to live the simple life is one of life’s supreme complications.”

“If you do not push the boundaries, you will never know where they are.”

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”

“Turn things you’ve always wanted to do, into things you’ve done.”

“I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and taking note of what you do not say.”

“The greatest proof of our failure is our disinclination to be alone: it shows our reluctance to be with ourselves, to deal with our own thoughts, to find our own company sufficient.”

“The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.”

“Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past.”

“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.”

“The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

“You can evade life, but you cannot evade death.”

“Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.”

“The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.”

“Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.”

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.”

“For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time.”

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”

“The last act is the greatest treason. To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.”

“You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead.”

“Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity.”

“The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.”

“Only by acceptance of the past can you alter it.”

“The only way to express 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 of that particular emotion.”

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.”

“Do I dare disturb the universe? In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.”

“I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”

“Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.”

“We die to each other daily. What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. And they have changed since then. To pretend that they and we are the same is a useful and convenient social convention which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember that at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.”

“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.”

“Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.”

“For I have known them all already, known them all— Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”

“Everyone gets the experience. Some get the lesson.”

“If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.”

“The journey, not the destination matters.”

“Finding a way to live the simple life is one of life’s supreme complications.”

“If you do not push the boundaries, you will never know where they are.”

“Turn things you’ve always wanted to do, into things you’ve done.”

“I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and taking note of what you do not say.”

“When the whole world is running headlong towards the precipice, one who walks in the opposite direction is looked at as being crazy.”

“We should not confuse information with knowledge.”

“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?”

“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.”

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.”

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”

“The tendency of liberals is to create bodies of men and women—of all classes—detached from tradition, alienated from religion, and susceptible to mass suggestion—mob rule. And a mob will be no less a mob if it is well fed, well clothed, well housed, and well disciplined.”

“For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time.”

“When the whole world is running headlong towards the precipice, one who walks in the opposite direction is looked at as being crazy.”

“We should not confuse information with knowledge.”

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”

“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?”

“For I have known them all already, known them all— Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.”

“Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.”

T S Eliot quotes reflect his deep and complex views on life, society, and the human condition. His power to portray these is phenomenal and T S Eliot quotes reflect these phenomenal qualities to a T.

T S Eliot quotes often make readers challenge and think about their own beliefs and the world around them. One can even say that T S Eliot quotes are his invitation to delve into his works and fully grasp the depth and nuance of his thoughts.

T S Eliot quotes born through his literature are a part of his legacy that still lives on. If you are interested to know and understand more of his work and have a deeper understanding of his themes.

It is best for you to not stop at T S Eliot quotes, you can go ahead and start reading his works more. although T S Eliot quotes are also a part of him but to have a broader perspective T S Eliot quotes aren’t enough.

Reading T S Eliot’s works would be best for you to learn more, of course, T S Eliot quotes would help you a lot too, it all depends on one’s perspective.

That’s all for now, but if you are interested in more from T S Eliot, be sure to check out our collection of Books to keep yourself entertained.