T. S. Eliot

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, read more

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.

What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might prove useful... read more

What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might prove useful... To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion; and we may reflect that a good deal of the attention of totalitarian states has been devoted with a steadfastness of purpose not always found in democracies, to providing their national life with a foundation of morality -- the wrong kind, perhaps, but a good deal more of it. It is not enthusiasm, but dogma, that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society.

...the mind is conscious, but conscious of nothing - I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope read more

...the mind is conscious, but conscious of nothing - I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: so the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

Footfalls echo in the memory, Down the passage which we did not take, Towards the door we never opened Into read more

Footfalls echo in the memory, Down the passage which we did not take, Towards the door we never opened Into the rose-garden.

Knowledge is invariably a matter of degree: you cannot put your finger upon even the simplest datum and say this read more

Knowledge is invariably a matter of degree: you cannot put your finger upon even the simplest datum and say this we know.