Quote #154

That is the worst moment, when you feel you have lost The desires for all that was most desirable, Before you are contented with what you can desire; Before you know what is left to be desired; And you go on wishing that you could desire What desire has left behind. But you cannot understand. How could you understand what it is to feel old?

More from Thomas Stearns Eliot

  1. You will find that you survive humiliation And that's an experience of incalculable value.
  2. You will change your mind, but you are not free. Your moment of freedom was yesterday. You made a decision. You set in motion Forces in you…
  3. It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous. Resign yourself to be the fool you are.
  4. We die to each other daily. What we know of other people Is only our memory of the moments During which we knew them. And they have changed…
  5. You now have learned enough to see That Cats are much like you and me And other people whom we find Possessed of various types of mind. For…
  6. I have had quite enough humiliation Lately, to bring me to the point At which humiliation ceases to humiliate. You get to the point at whic…
  7. These modern productions are all very well, But there's nothing to equal, from what I hear tell, That moment of mystery When I made history…
  8. You're still trying to invent a personality for me Which will only keep me away from myself.

All Thomas Stearns Eliot quotes