T. S. Eliot

The poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together.

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.

Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity.

The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far the Christian has advanced, but how far he has advanced from where he began.

Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.

The very word 'culture' has come to be used in a way which is itself a symptom of the disease it is supposed to cure.

It is not the business of the poet to make us think, but to make us feel.

The function of criticism is to promote understanding and enjoyment.

The more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates.

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, / And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, / And in short, I was afraid.

After such knowledge, what forgiveness?

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata. Shantih shantih shantih.

The end of the world is not an event, but a process.

The greatest of evils is to do nothing.

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire / Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

Time present and time past / Are both perhaps present in time future / And time future contained in time past.

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

The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.