Quotes from T.S. Eliot

And the eye adjusts itself to a twilight Where the dead stone is seen to be batrachian, The aphyllous branch ophidian.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,  The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,  Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,  Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,  Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,  Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,  And seeing that it was a soft October night,  Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

I not a person, in a world not of persons But only of contaminating presences.

That sudden comprehension of the death of hope

I believe the moment of birth Is when we have knowledge of death I believe the season of birth Is the season of sacrifice

This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but with a whimper.

Where the 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?

You do not know, You cannot know, you cannot understand.

You bring me news Of a door that opens at the end of a corridor, Sunlight and singing; when I had felt sure That every corridor only led to another, Or to a blank wall; that I kept moving Only so as not to stay still. Singing and light.

When I know, I know that in some way I shall find That I have always known it. And that will be better.

He hid his strength beneath unusual weakness, The diffidence of a solitary man: Where he was weak he recognised your mother's power, And yielded to it.

The backward look behind the assurance Of recorded history, the backward half-look Over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror.

It was only a moment, it was only one moment That I stood in sunlight, and thought I might stay there.

What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened.

I must face them. I must fight them. But they are stupid. How can one fight with stupidity?

When the Stranger says: "What is the meaning of this city? Do you huddle close together because you love each other?" What will you answer?

Where is the wisdom? We lost in knowledge Where is the wisdom we lost in knowledge? ?????

O my soul, be prepared for the coming of the Stranger, Be prepared for him who knows how to ask questions.

Darkness reminds us of light.

After such knowledge, what forgiveness?

You must go through the way in which you are not. And what you do not know is the only thing you know And what you own is what you do not own And where you are is where you are not.

We die with the dying; see they return and bring us with them.

That is the reason. I keep Wishwood alive To keep the family alive, to keep them together, To keep me alive, and I live to keep them.

You none of you understand how old you are And death will come to you as a mild surprise, A momentary shudder in a vacant room.