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T. S. Eliot Quotes about Silence

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If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.

If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.

T. S. Eliot
Heart, Silence, Firsts

Where shall the word be found, where will the word / Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence.

T. S. Eliot
Silence, Enough, Found
T.S. Eliot (2009). “Collected Poems 1909-1962”, p.86, Faber & Faber

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, But neither arrest nor movement. And do not all it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

T. S. Eliot
Past, Silence, Would Be
Collected Poems (1936) "Burnt Norton" pt. 2

And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness.

T. S. Eliot
Book, Writing, Silence
T. S. Eliot (2014). “The Rock: A Pageant Play”, p.40, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The endless cycle of idea and action, / Endless invention, endless experiment, / Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; / Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; / Knowledge of words, and ignorance of The Word.

T. S. Eliot
Ignorance, Ideas, Silence
T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.129, Faber & Faber

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent If the unheard, unspoken Word is unspoken, unheard; Still is the spoken word, the Word unheard, The Word without a word, the Word within The world and for the world; And the light shone in the darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled About the center of the silent Word. Oh my people, what have I done unto thee. Where shall the word be found, where shall the word Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence

T. S. Eliot
Light, People, Silence

Words move, music moves Only in time; but that which is only living Can only die. Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness.

T. S. Eliot
Moving, Silence, Speech
T.S. Eliot (2011). “The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot”, p.157, Faber & Faber

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