There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
T. S. EliotRead
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge increases awareness of how much we do not know.
T. S. Eliot's quote highlights the paradox of knowledge: as we learn more about the world, we become increasingly aware of the vastness of our ignorance. This serves as a reminder that education and understanding do not simply accumulate facts but also reveal the limitations of our knowledge and the endless pursuit of truth.
Themes
KnowledgeIgnoranceLearningUnderstandingWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the limits of science, this quote can emphasize the ongoing journey of learning.
More from T. S. Eliot
All quotes βHalf 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.
T. S. EliotRead
I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.
T. S. EliotRead
If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
T. S. EliotRead
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.
T. S. EliotRead
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
T. S. EliotRead
Similar quotes
As a global community, we face a choice. Do we want migration to be a source of prosperity and international solidarity, or a byword for inhumanity and social friction?
Antonio GuterresRead
A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either.
Thomas PaineRead
. . . Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy--of dissatisfaction with his life. He had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.
Samuel ButlerRead
If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?
Ron PaulRead
Some recent philosophers seem to have given their moral approval to these deplorable verdicts that affirm that the intelligence of an individual is a fixed quantity, a quantity that cannot be augmented. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism; we will try to demonstrate that it is founded on nothing.
Alfred BinetRead