There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
T. S. EliotRead
Distracted from distraction by distraction
Interpretation
Distractions can lead us away from deeper understanding and focus on meaningful pursuits.
This quote by T. S. Eliot suggests that modern life is filled with distractions that can divert our attention from what truly matters. It highlights the irony that in trying to avoid distraction, we can become further entrenched in a cycle of shallow engagements, making it difficult to reach a state of clarity or focus. The quote encourages reflection on how distractions can hinder intellectual and emotional depth.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of mindfulness in today's fast-paced world.
There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them.
I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.
If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
For I have known them all already, known them allβ Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Man's chief goal in life is still to become and stay human, and defend his achievements against the encroachment of nature.
Lies written in ink cannot disguise facts written in blood.
A long time ago, I thought, as a writer in the Caribbean, 'I don't ever want to have to write 'It was great in Paris.'' Because I don't think, proportionately speaking, that one's experience in a city as opposed to, say, a village in St. Lucia, is superior to the other.
Man is an idea, and a precious small idea once he turns his back on love.
So while I can't tell you if bringing a child into this world is the morally-responsible to do, I can say that the future, much like the present, is going to be a whole lot better than you think.
Whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific or the Rio Grande, we are here only because this country welcomed them in and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship.
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