T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot OMwas an American-born British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". He moved to England in 1914 at age 25, settling, working and marrying there. He was eventually naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39, renouncing his American citizenship...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth26 September 1888
CountryUnited States of America
T. S. Eliot quotes about
air breaks descending dove flame
The dove descending breaks the air / With flame of incandescent terror.
age awful daring prudence surrender
The awful daring of a moment's surrender which an age of prudence can never retract.
editors failed suppose
I suppose some editors are failed writers; but so are most writers.
bald descend disturb indeed middle spot time turn
And indeed there will be time/ To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"/ Time to turn back and descend the stair,/ With a bald spot in the middle of my hair. . ./ Do I dare/ Disturb the universe?
further
And we must think no further of you.
entertainment joke listen medium millions people permits remain television
It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.
mess success
Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.
below saw second shape turned turning twisted
At the first turning of the second stair / I turned and saw below / The same shape twisted on the banister.
beyond communication dead death fire language speech
And what the dead had no speech for, when living, they can tell you, being dead: the communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
family finds light lived looked love vocabulary within
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.
clean clear stone wash
Clear the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! take stone from stone and wash them.
active atmosphere attending believe concentration finally great happen neither nor number passive poet practical resulting seem unite
We must believe that ''emotion recollected in tranquillity'' is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity. It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not ''recollected'' and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is ''tranquil'' only in that it is a passive attending upon the event.
british-author failure fear man ought purpose sees
The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.
health consciousness young
The sense of wellbeing! Its often with us When we are young, but then it's not noticed; And by the time one has grown to consciousness It comes less often.