There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
T. S. EliotRead
There are flood and drought over the eyes and in the mouth, dead water and dead sand contending for the upper hand. The parched eviscerate soil gapes at the vanity of toil, laughs without mirth. This is the death of the earth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the conflict between nature's extremes and the futility of human effort in the face of environmental decay.
T.S. Eliot's quote vividly illustrates the struggles between abundance and scarcity in nature, depicting a landscape ravaged by extremes of water and drought. The imagery suggests that human efforts to cultivate and control the earth are ultimately in vain as we confront the harsh realities of environmental degradation and the inevitability of nature's cycles, leading to a profound meditation on the death and rebirth of the earth.
Themes
NatureEnvironmentFutilityStruggleHuman EffortDegradation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about environmental conservation to stress the importance of respecting nature.
More from T. S. Eliot
All quotes →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.
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 all— 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
The sea is not a bargain basement.
Jacques Yves CousteauRead
We don't have to look far for miracles because they're all around us. Everything is astonishing. The universe on it's surface is alive with mystery.
Terence MckennaRead
Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.
Henry David ThoreauRead
April ... hath put a spirit of youth in everything.
William ShakespeareRead
I am always more interested in people than plants. Nature doesn't make gardens, people make gardens. And the story of a garden is always the story of a person.
Monty DonRead
I started following the news and seeing what was happening around the world with the polar ice caps melting and temperatures breaking records. I became concerned as an animal on this planet but also as a father.
Don CheadleRead