224 Quotes by T.S. Eliot

Oh my soul, be prepared for the coming of the Stranger.Be prepared for him who knows how to ask questions.There is one who remembers the way to your door:Life you may evade, but Death you shall not.You shall not deny the Stranger.They constantly try to escapeFrom the darkness outside and withinBy dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.But the man that is shall shadowThe man that pretends to be.

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

There is no water, so things are bad. If there were water, it would be better. But there is no water.

We have only to conquer Now, by suffering. This is the easier victory.Now is the triumph of the cross.

And last, the rending pain of re-enactmentOf all that you have done, and been; the shameOf things ill done and done to others' harmWhich once you took for exercise of virtue.Then fools' approval stings, and honour stains.

Do not let me hearOf the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

Though you forget the way to the Temple,There is one who remembers the way to your door: Life you may evade, but Death you shall not. You shall not deny the Stranger.

Our civilization comprehends great variety and complexity, and this variety and complexity, playing upon a refined sensibility, must produce various and complex results. The poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into his meaning.