--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent…" description: "\"“And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent Godless people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.”\" — T S Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg" --- # And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent Godless people… ![“And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent Godless people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.” quote by T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg) > ““And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent Godless people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.”” [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The wind comments on godless people, their only monument being a road and lost golf balls, suggesting emptiness of modern monuments. **In simple terms:** Modern monuments are hollow. Key Takeaway Reflect on what truly endures. Themes modernity emptiness monuments Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - urban life - sports - environmental decay Key Concepts existential reflection cultural critique Questions to Reflect On - What do you consider a lasting monument? - How does consumer culture affect meaning? A Different Perspective Interpretation may vary widely. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Godless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/godless/) [Individualism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individualism/) [Modernity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernity/) [Monument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monument/) [Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress/) ## Related quotes > [Here were decent godless people; Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/here-were-decent-godless-people-their-only-monument-the-asphalt-road/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [“All I know about the Jews is what my grandfather taught me. "They are the most godless people," he used to say. 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(Job 36:13 NIV)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scotty-smith/the-godless-in-heart-harbor-resentment-job-36-13-niv/) [Scotty Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scotty-smith/) > [A graceless life is a Godless life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-graceless-life-is-a-godless-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Gods and politics are the tools with which the godless and unprincipled manipulate the gullible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/gods-and-politics-are-the-tools-with-which-the-godless-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Isn't atheism just another religion?' No, it isn't. Atheism has no creeds, rituals, holy book, absolute moral code, origin myth, sacred spaces or shrines.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-barker/isn-t-atheism-just-another-religion-no-it-isn-t-atheism-has-no-creeds/) [Dan Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-barker/) > [“Better the self-torture of a godless Protestant conscience than the fantasies of a modern Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lilla/better-the-self-torture-of-a-godless-protestant-conscience-than-the/) [Mark Lilla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lilla/) > [I never saw the premise as 'Godless' is the story of a town full of women. 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A Godless city, but full of superstitions on every subject--art, money, sex, food, health.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/new-york-is-full-of-abandoned-churches-a-godless-city-but-full-of/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“The mature and well-balanced man, standing firmly with both feet on the earth, who has never been lamed and broken an half-blinded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/the-mature-and-well-balanced-man-standing-firmly-with-both-feet-on/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [“Today, the belief in progress, necessary for life in a Godless universe, can no longer be sustained, except, perhaps, in the Silicon Valley mansions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/today-the-belief-in-progress-necessary-for-life-in-a-godless-universe/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) ## More by T S Eliot > [“No poet, no artist of any art has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/no-poet-no-artist-of-any-art-has-his-complete-meaning-alone-his/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [“The river is within us, the sea is all about us;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/the-river-is-within-us-the-sea-is-all-about-us/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [Men live by forgetting, women live on memories. -](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/men-live-by-forgetting-women-live-on-memories/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [“The emotion of art is impersonal. And the poet cannot reach this impersonality without surrendering himself wholly to the work to be done. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/the-emotion-of-art-is-impersonal-and-the-poet-cannot-reach-this/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/time-for-you-and-time-for-me-and-time-yet-for-a-hundred-indecisions-2/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [“A literary critic should have no emotions except those immediately provoked by a work of art.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/a-literary-critic-should-have-no-emotions-except-those-immediately/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) > [“Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/home-is-where-one-starts-from-as-we-grow-older-the-world-becomes-2/) [T S Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) [Explore all 8 T S Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/) ## More Godless quotes > [“Today, the belief in progress, necessary for life in a Godless universe, can no longer be sustained, except, perhaps, in the Silicon Valley mansions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/today-the-belief-in-progress-necessary-for-life-in-a-godless-universe/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“The mature and well-balanced man, standing firmly with both feet on the earth, who has never been lamed and broken an half-blinded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/the-mature-and-well-balanced-man-standing-firmly-with-both-feet-on/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [New York is full of abandoned churches. A Godless city, but full of superstitions on every subject--art, money, sex, food, health.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/new-york-is-full-of-abandoned-churches-a-godless-city-but-full-of/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Truth is the only healthy place from which to speak. Assumption is the birthplace of godless chatter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysa-terkeurst/truth-is-the-only-healthy-place-from-which-to-speak-assumption-is-the/) [Lysa TerKeurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysa-terkeurst/) > [This...Godless society operates in an extremely efficient manner at least in its higher levels of leadership...It follows a perfectly mapped out strategy. It holds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pedro-arrupe/this-godless-society-operates-in-an-extremely-efficient-manner-at/) [Pedro Arrupe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pedro-arrupe/) > [I never saw the premise as 'Godless' is the story of a town full of women. I always saw 'Godless' as being made up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merritt-wever/i-never-saw-the-premise-as-godless-is-the-story-of-a-town-full-of/) [Merritt Wever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merritt-wever/) > [“Better the self-torture of a godless Protestant conscience than the fantasies of a modern Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lilla/better-the-self-torture-of-a-godless-protestant-conscience-than-the/) [Mark Lilla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lilla/) > [Isn't atheism just another religion?' No, it isn't. Atheism has no creeds, rituals, holy book, absolute moral code, origin myth, sacred spaces or shrines.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-barker/isn-t-atheism-just-another-religion-no-it-isn-t-atheism-has-no-creeds/) [Dan Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-barker/) > [Gods and politics are the tools with which the godless and unprincipled manipulate the gullible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/gods-and-politics-are-the-tools-with-which-the-godless-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A graceless life is a Godless life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-graceless-life-is-a-godless-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The godless in heart harbor resentment. (Job 36:13 NIV)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scotty-smith/the-godless-in-heart-harbor-resentment-job-36-13-niv/) [Scotty Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scotty-smith/) > [Those of us who believe in God and those of us who have dedicated our lives to helping others in the name of God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-durbin/those-of-us-who-believe-in-god-and-those-of-us-who-have-dedicated-our/) [Dick Durbin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-durbin/) > [In my godless household, poems were the closest we came to sacred speech -- the only prayers said.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/in-my-godless-household-poems-were-the-closest-we-came-to-sacred/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Incidentally, why was it that none of all the pious ever discovered psycho-analysis? Why did it have to wait for a completely godless Jew?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/incidentally-why-was-it-that-none-of-all-the-pious-ever-discovered/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [“Godless, 'we had no war.' Until God set us to fight each other, for the rest of human history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/godless-we-had-no-war-until-god-set-us-to-fight-each-other-for-the/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) [Browse all 49 Godless quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/godless/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent Godless people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T S Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent-godless-people-their-only/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Godless" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent-godless-people-their-only/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/t-s-eliot-3-46853_individualism_and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent_1396129.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And the wind shall say: 'Here were decent Godless people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a…” — T S Eliot", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "T S Eliot", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-3/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“And the wind shall say: 'Here...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent-godless-people-their-only/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-3/and-the-wind-shall-say-here-were-decent-godless-people-their-only/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```