--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So here I am, in the middle way, having…" description: "\"“So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years— Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres Trying to learn to use words,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb7/t-s-eliot-2-1761_failure_so-here-i-am-in-the-middle-way-having-ha_2152362.jpg" --- # So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years… ![“So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years— Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure Because one has only learnt to get the better of words For the thing one…” quote by T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb7/t-s-eliot-2-1761_failure_so-here-i-am-in-the-middle-way-having-ha_2152362.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb7/t-s-eliot-2-1761_failure_so-here-i-am-in-the-middle-way-having-ha_2152362.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb7/t-s-eliot-2-1761_failure_so-here-i-am-in-the-middle-way-having-ha_2152362.jpg) > ““So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years— Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure Because one has only learnt to get the better of words For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate With shabby equipment always deteriorating In the general mess of imprecision of feeling, Undisciplined squads of emotion.”” [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poet reflects on wasted time, continual reinvention, and the struggle to express inarticulate feelings with limited tools. **In simple terms:** Repeated attempts to start anew amid frustration. Key Takeaway Embrace new beginnings despite imperfect expression. Themes creativity failure language self‑reflection renewal Mood melancholic introspective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - writing practice - therapy sessions - creative workshops - personal journaling - learning new skills Key Concepts existential angst artistic process communication breakdown Questions to Reflect On - What does “new beginning” mean for you? - How do you cope with inarticulate emotions? A Different Perspective May romanticize struggle over practical progress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Failure Learnt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure-learnt-1441451/) [Guerres Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guerres-trying-4531370/) [Middle way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-way/) [New beginning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-beginning/) [Wasted Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years-307887/) [Words Attempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/words-attempt-1441450/) ## Related quotes > [“So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years- Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres- Trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/so-here-i-am-in-the-middle-way-having-had-twenty-years-twenty-years/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [Trying to use words, and every attempt Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure Because one has only learnt to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/trying-to-use-words-and-every-attempt-is-a-wholly-new-start-and-a/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [If you want to be rich, never give up. People tend to give up. If you have persistence, you will come out ahead of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordan-belfort/if-you-want-to-be-rich-never-give-up-people-tend-to-give-up-if-you/) [Jordan Belfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordan-belfort/) > [You've always asked me to wait, as if we had time in abundance. But time is too precious, Perry. We've wasted years, when we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kleypas/you-ve-always-asked-me-to-wait-as-if-we-had-time-in-abundance-but/) [Lisa Kleypas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kleypas/) > [Put the park rangers to work. Lazy scheming loafers, they've wasted too many years selling tickets at toll booths and sitting behind desks filling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/put-the-park-rangers-to-work-lazy-scheming-loafers-they-ve-wasted-too/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [I wasted years worrying about what other people thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-wasted-years-worrying-about-what-other-people-thought/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“He felt the rush of years, years wasted and years used wisely. He felt time moving through him, as if it were a ghost,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathie-pelletier/he-felt-the-rush-of-years-years-wasted-and-years-used-wisely-he-felt/) [Cathie Pelletier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathie-pelletier/) > [“We wasted ten years and you're worried about a few thousand miles? Hell, we've got airplanes, we've got email, they've invented fucking cell phones.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-harvey-berrick/we-wasted-ten-years-and-you-re-worried-about-a-few-thousand-miles/) [Jane Harvey-Berrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-harvey-berrick/) > [I have to believe that literature can effect change; otherwise, I would have no purpose in my life and would have wasted four years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-syjuco/i-have-to-believe-that-literature-can-effect-change-otherwise-i-would/) [Miguel Syjuco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-syjuco/) > [“A hundred days wasted out of two years and a bit ... a day when you were not in my heart; not a day's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/a-hundred-days-wasted-out-of-two-years-and-a-bit-a-day-when-you-were/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [My daughters had helped me to stop worrying about my appearance over the years. I wasted so many years thinking I wasn't pretty enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meryl-streep/my-daughters-had-helped-me-to-stop-worrying-about-my-appearance-over/) [Meryl Streep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meryl-streep/) > [Through our inattention, we have wasted the years that we might have used to prepare for lessened oil supplies. The next ten years are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-s-deffeyes/through-our-inattention-we-have-wasted-the-years-that-we-might-have/) [Kenneth S. Deffeyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-s-deffeyes/) > [I wasted so many years in my youth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-liefeld/i-wasted-so-many-years-in-my-youth/) [Rob Liefeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-liefeld/) > [I wasted so many years just traveling and sitting in hotels, searching for things, not knowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergei-polunin/i-wasted-so-many-years-just-traveling-and-sitting-in-hotels-searching/) [Sergei Polunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergei-polunin/) > [I am sorry to upset my colleagues by saying we wasted four years in opposition, but if you do get so badly defeated as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clarke/i-am-sorry-to-upset-my-colleagues-by-saying-we-wasted-four-years-in/) [Kenneth Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clarke/) ## More by T.S. Eliot > [“I have measured out my life in coffee spoons.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/i-have-measured-out-my-life-in-coffee-spoons/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum. What is to be insisted upon is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/shakespeare-acquired-more-essential-history-from-plutarch-than-most/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones — In fact, he's remarkably fat. He doesn't haunt pubs — he has eight or nine clubs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/bustopher-jones-is-not-skin-and-bones-in-fact-he-s-remarkably-fat-he/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Politic, cautious, and meticulous; full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/politic-cautious-and-meticulous-full-of-high-sentence-but-a-bit-obtuse/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Our beginnings never know our ends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/our-beginnings-never-know-our-ends/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/oxford-is-very-pretty-but-i-don-t-like-to-be-dead/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“We have therefore to inquire what there is about Machiavelli to impress the mind of Europe so prodigiously and so curiously, and why the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/we-have-therefore-to-inquire-what-there-is-about-machiavelli-to/) [T.S. 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Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“By destroying traditional social habits of the people, by dissolving their natural collective consciousness into individual constituents, by licensing the opinions of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/by-destroying-traditional-social-habits-of-the-people-by-dissolving/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“We returned to our palaces, these Kingdoms, but no longer at ease here in the old dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/we-returned-to-our-palaces-these-kingdoms-but-no-longer-at-ease-here/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“…Lady of silences Calm and distressed Torn and most whole Rose of memory Rose of forgetfulness Exhausted and life-giving Worried reposeful The single Rose…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/lady-of-silences-calm-and-distressed-torn-and-most-whole-rose-of/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Destiny waits in the hand of god, shaping the still unshapen..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/destiny-waits-in-the-hand-of-god-shaping-the-still-unshapen/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/i-said-to-my-soul-be-still-and-wait-without-hope-for-hope-would-be-2/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) [Explore all 206 T.S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) ## More Failure quotes > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. 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