--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We shall not cease from exploration And…" description: "\"“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/t-s-eliot-2-1761_exploration_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_3125299.jpg" --- # We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our… ![“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, remembered gate When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; At the source of the longest river The voice…” quote by T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/t-s-eliot-2-1761_exploration_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_3125299.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/t-s-eliot-2-1761_exploration_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_3125299.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/t-s-eliot-2-1761_exploration_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_3125299.jpg) > ““We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, remembered gate When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; At the source of the longest river The voice of the hidden waterfall And the children in the apple-tree Not known, because not looked for But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea. —T.S. Eliot, from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets (Gardners Books; Main edition, April 30, 2001) Originally published 1943.”” [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. Exploration leads back to origins, revealing familiar truths anew after a journey through mystery. **In simple terms:** Exploring returns us to familiar places with new insight. Key Takeaway Seek understanding through continual discovery. Themes exploration origin reflection journey knowledge Mood contemplative hopeful inspired Type poetic philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - personal growth - scientific research - creative projects - spiritual practice Key Concepts philosophy spirituality cyclical time Questions to Reflect On - What familiar truths have you rediscovered after change? - How does returning to origins change your perspective? A Different Perspective The insight may be idealized and not always achievable in practical life. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exploration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploration/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) ## Related quotes > [We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and-the-end-of-all-our-exploring-2/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We must not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-must-not-cease-from-exploration-and-the-end-of-all-our-exploring/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and-the-end-of-all-our-exploring/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and-the-end-of-all-our-exploring-3/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The secret of the world is this: the world is entirely circular and you will go round and round endlessly, never finding what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/the-secret-of-the-world-is-this-the-world-is-entirely-circular-and/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [“The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we know we started and know the place for the first time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/the-end-of-all-our-exploring-will-be-to-arrive-where-we-know-we/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [We shall not cease from exploring, And the end of our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-shall-not-cease-from-exploring-and-the-end-of-our-exploring-will/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [“And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/and-the-end-of-all-our-exploring-will-be-to-arrive-where-we-started/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [How Far back must we go to discover the beginning of trouble?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/how-far-back-must-we-go-to-discover-the-beginning-of-trouble/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“As we sincerely seek to understand and integrate these principles into our lives, I am convinced we will discover and rediscover the truth of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosettabooks/as-we-sincerely-seek-to-understand-and-integrate-these-principles/) RosettaBooks > [The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-of-all-our-exploring-will-be-to-arrive-where-we-started/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Throughout the history of spaceflight and the study of effects of exploring to human, space environment to human body, we have accumulated enough knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roman-romanenko/throughout-the-history-of-spaceflight-and-the-study-of-effects-of/) [Roman Romanenko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roman-romanenko/) > [The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pema-ch-dr-n/the-trick-is-to-keep-exploring-and-not-bail-out-even-when-we-find-out/) [Pema Chodron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pema-ch-dr-n/) > [Women are just more oriented toward feelings - and I don't mean that in a negative way. But with a male actor and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-nolte/women-are-just-more-oriented-toward-feelings-and-i-don-t-mean-that-in/) [Nick Nolte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-nolte/) > [“We only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-attenborough/we-only-know-a-tiny-proportion-about-the-complexity-of-the-natural/) [David Attenborough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-attenborough/) ## 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. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And a hundred visions and revisions”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/and-time-yet-for-a-hundred-indecisions-and-a-hundred-visions-and/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“The world turns and the world changes, But one thing does not change. In all of my years, one thing does not change, However…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/the-world-turns-and-the-world-changes-but-one-thing-does-not-change/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“It is essential that a work of art should be self-consistent, that an artist should consciously or unconsciously draw a circle beyond which he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/it-is-essential-that-a-work-of-art-should-be-self-consistent-that-an/) [T.S. 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 Exploration quotes > [“Mars looks like Vegas without the casinos.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-neill/mars-looks-like-vegas-without-the-casinos/) [Sam Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-neill/) > [I definitely go through periods where I'm in a particular mood, or there's a consistent imaginative context that I feel I'm in, and I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hiddleston/i-definitely-go-through-periods-where-i-m-in-a-particular-mood-or/) [Tom Hiddleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hiddleston/) > [My familiarity with the successful use of very long steel ropes for mining purposes naturally suggested their adaptation to the new purpose of deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-agassiz/my-familiarity-with-the-successful-use-of-very-long-steel-ropes-for/) Alexander Agassiz > [One day I may commit to a city and settle down and do the restaurant thing - when I'm ready and however and whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristen-kish/one-day-i-may-commit-to-a-city-and-settle-down-and-do-the-restaurant/) Kristen Kish > [When you're younger, you're more selfish, because there's so much self-exploration, you're in your own mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miley-cyrus/when-you-re-younger-you-re-more-selfish-because-there-s-so-much-self/) [Miley Cyrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miley-cyrus/) > [“The depth of a man is a limit only he can know, should he have the courage to explore into the dark.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kyle-schmalenberg/the-depth-of-a-man-is-a-limit-only-he-can-know-should-he-have-the/) [Kyle Schmalenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kyle-schmalenberg/) > [Fiction, maybe art in general, is a tentative, uncertain enterprise; it's not science, it's an exploration, but you never find much in the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/fiction-maybe-art-in-general-is-a-tentative-uncertain-enterprise-it-s/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [If I had to define my philosophy, it would be about exploration, a journey, a story-telling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussein-chalayan/if-i-had-to-define-my-philosophy-it-would-be-about-exploration-a/) [Hussein Chalayan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussein-chalayan/) > [“Life is short. The world is big. It awaits your exploration. If you're not living on the edge, you're just taking up way too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beaver/life-is-short-the-world-is-big-it-awaits-your-exploration-if-you-re/) Paul Beaver > [I stayed in the astronaut program until 1993. People ask me why I left. I thought I had a lot of things to contribute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mae-jemison/i-stayed-in-the-astronaut-program-until-1993-people-ask-me-why-i-left/) [Mae Jemison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mae-jemison/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Prominent exploration experts have recently predicted that total world production of liquid oil will peak by about the end of this decade-or a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amory-lovins/prominent-exploration-experts-have-recently-predicted-that-total/) [Amory Lovins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amory-lovins/) > [I live an artistic double life: one of classical realism and the other of aesthetic exploration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-tobey/i-live-an-artistic-double-life-one-of-classical-realism-and-the-other/) [Alton Tobey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-tobey/) > [All that is happening in art is part of a process of exploration and discovery. I hope to live for a few more years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-plaskett/all-that-is-happening-in-art-is-part-of-a-process-of-exploration-and/) [Joseph Plaskett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-plaskett/) > [“But first whom shall we send In search of this new world, whom shall we find Sufficient? Who shall tempt, with wand'ring feet The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/but-first-whom-shall-we-send-in-search-of-this-new-world-whom-shall/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) [Browse all 1,037 Exploration quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploration/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. 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