“Where is the Life we lost in living?”

—  T.S. Eliot

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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T.S. Eliot photo
T.S. Eliot 270
20th century English author 1888–1965

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“O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
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.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
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Brings us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.”

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Choruses from The Rock (1934)

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