Share this page: Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question. . . . Oh, do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit. -- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915) Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. 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; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room. So how should I presume? -- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915) I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. -- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915) I grow old ... I grow old ... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. -- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915) April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. -- "The Waste Land" (1922) Unreal city, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. -- "The Waste Land" (1922) We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. -- "The Hollow Men" (1925) Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom -- "The Hollow Men" (1925) Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow -- "The Hollow Men" (1925) This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. -- "The Hollow Men" (1925) Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to turn Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope I no longer strive to strive towards such things -- "Ash Wednesday" (1930) Because I do not hope to know The infirm glory of the positive hour Because I do not think Because I know I shall not know The one veritable transitory power Because I cannot drink There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again -- "Ash Wednesday (1930) Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only The wind will listen. -- "Ash Wednesday" (1930) He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair: For when they reach the scene of crime — Macavity's not there! -- "Macavity: The Mystery Cat", in: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare: At whatever time the deed took place- Macavity wasn't there. -- "Macavity: The Mystery Cat", in: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity, For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity. You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square — But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there! -- "Macavity: The Mystery Cat", in: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) They say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known (I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone) Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime! -- "Macavity: The Mystery Cat", in: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) Share this page:

The selection of the above quotes and the writing of the accompanying notes was performed by the author David Paul Wagner. About Us • Contact Us • Privacy • Terms of Use © 2005-23 Wide World of Quotes. All Rights Reserved.