Quote

And they write innumerable books being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness.

T. S. Eliot

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

T. S. Eliot
Age: 76 †
Born: 1888
Born: September 26
Died: 1965
Died: January 4
Critic
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Lyricist
Playwright
Poet
Screenwriter
Short Story Writer
Social Critic
St. Louis
Missouri
Thomas Stearns Eliot
Eliot
T S Eliot
Thomas Eliot
T.S. Eliot
Seeking
Silence
Books
Dodging
Write
Innumerable
Book
Elevation
Writing
Distracted
Every
Emptiness
Vain

More quotes by T. S. Eliot

Image
The eastern light our spires touch at morning, The light that slants upon our western doors at evening, The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight, Moon light and star light, owl and moth light, Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade. O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!
T. S. Eliot
Image
A prose that is altogether alive demands something of the reader that the ordinary novel reader is not prepared to give.
T. S. Eliot
Image
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
Image
Words move, music moves Only in time but that which is only living Can only die. Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness.
T. S. Eliot
Image
Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable.
T. S. Eliot
Image
I think it was rather an advantage not having any living poets in England or America in whom one took any particular interest. I don't know what it would be like but I think it would be a rather troublesome distraction to have such a lot of dominating presences, as you call them, about. Fortunately we weren't bothered by each other.
T. S. Eliot
Image
Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about the science of money while I am at it it is an extraordinarily interesting subject.
T. S. Eliot
Image
The only hope, or else despair Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre - To be redeemed from fire by fire.
T. S. Eliot
Image
The difference between being an elder statesman And posing successfully as an elder statesman Is practically negligible.
T. S. Eliot
Image
For you know only a heap of broken images
T. S. Eliot
Image
Our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves, and of our visible, sensible world.
T. S. Eliot
Image
We do not quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in but its fitting in is a test of its value - a test, it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for we are none of us infallible judges of conformity.
T. S. Eliot
Image
The chief danger about Paris is that it is such a strong stimulant.
T. S. Eliot
Image
Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall My buried life, and Paris in the spring, I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world To be wonderful and youthful afterall
T. S. Eliot
Image
Art is the escape from personality.
T. S. Eliot
Image
If you want it you must obtain it by great labor.
T. S. Eliot
Image
There's no vocabulary For love within a family, love that's lived in But not looked at, love within the light of which All else is seen, the love within which All other love finds speech. This love is silent.
T. S. Eliot
Image
Although I do not hope to turn again Although I do not hope Although I do not hope to turn
T. S. Eliot
Image
Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.
T. S. Eliot
Image
Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow
T. S. Eliot