There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the nature of time and the human tendency to overthink decisions before taking action.
T. S. Eliot's quote highlights the complexities of time management and decision-making in life. It suggests that individuals often spend too much time in contemplation and hesitation, caught in a cycle of indecision and revision, rather than acting decisively. The mention of 'toast and tea' symbolizes moments of pause or social interaction, underscoring how time can both be a source of anxiety and an opportunity for connection.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about taking risks, one might say this quote to emphasize the importance of action over contemplation.
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.
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
Similar quotes
If it's true that every seven years each cell in your body dies and is replaced, then I have truly inherited my life from a dead man; and the misdeeds of those times have been forgiven, and are buried with his bones.
Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.
America is a young country with an old mentality.
The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the 'disenchantment of the world.' Precisely the ultimate and most sublime values have retreated from public life either into the transcendental realm of mystic life or into the brotherliness of direct and personal human relations. It is not accidental that our greatest art is intimate and not monumental.
He was constantly reminded of how startlingly different a place the world was when viewed from a point only three feet to the left.
It might be lonelier Without the Loneliness - Iβm so accustomed to my Fate - Perhaps the Other - Peace - Would interrupt the Dark - And crowd the little Room - Too scant - by Cubits - to contain The Sacrament - of Him - I am not used to Hope - It might intrude upon - Its sweet parade - blaspheme the place - Ordained to Suffering - It might be easier To fail - with Land in Sight - Than gain - My Blue Peninsula - To perish - of Delight -