T. S. Eliot Quotes (109 Quotes)

The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.

A toothache, or a violent passion, is not necessarily diminished by our knowledge of its causes, its character, its importance or insignificance.

Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.

I should be glad of another death.

But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

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

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Art never improves, but... the material of art is never quite the same.

The soul is so far from being a monad that we have not only to interpret other souls to ourself but to interpret ourself to ourself.