--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Can we only love Something created in our…" description: "\"Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations? Are we all in fact unloving and unloveable? Then one is alone, and if one is alone Then lov..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/t-s-eliot-633_beloved_can-we-only-love-something-created-in-ou_2361047.png" --- # Can we only love Something created in our own… ![“Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations? Are we all in fact unloving and unloveable? Then one is alone, and if one is alone Then lover and beloved are equally unreal And the dreamer is no more real than his dreams.” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/t-s-eliot-633_beloved_can-we-only-love-something-created-in-ou_2361047.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/t-s-eliot-633_beloved_can-we-only-love-something-created-in-ou_2361047.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3d/t-s-eliot-633_beloved_can-we-only-love-something-created-in-ou_2361047.png) > “Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations? Are we all in fact unloving and unloveable? Then one is alone, and if one is alone Then lover and beloved are equally unreal And the dreamer is no more real than his dreams.” [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love may be limited to imagined constructs, leaving us isolated and questioning reality. **In simple terms:** Love imagined can feel unreal and lonely. Key Takeaway Question the nature of love and self. Themes love imagination loneliness existentialism Mood introspective melancholic Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - relationships - creative writing - therapy - spiritual practice Key Concepts subjective reality self‑identity philosophy of love Questions to Reflect On - What does love mean to you? - Can love exist beyond imagination? A Different Perspective Idealized love can hinder genuine connection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beloved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beloved/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreamer/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lover/) [Lovers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lovers/) [Unloving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unloving/) ## Related quotes > [“Oh, I thought that I was giving him so much! And he to me - and the giving and the taking Seemed so right:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/oh-i-thought-that-i-was-giving-him-so-much-and-he-to-me-and-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Instead of "I love you," it would be better to say "I am love-I am the embodiment of Pure Love." Remove the I and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/instead-of-i-love-you-it-would-be-better-to-say-i-am-love-i-am-the/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/can-we-only-love-something-created-in-our-own-imaginations/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [“Dark, unfeeling and unloving powers determine human destiny.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/dark-unfeeling-and-unloving-powers-determine-human-destiny/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [I surround people in unconditional acceptance and love to such a degree that everything that is unloving about them rises to the surface.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyanla-vanzant/i-surround-people-in-unconditional-acceptance-and-love-to-such-a/) [Iyanla Vanzant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyanla-vanzant/) > [If you are perpetually angry, depressed, confused, and unloving, or your attention is elsewhere, it won't matter how successful you become or who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/if-you-are-perpetually-angry-depressed-confused-and-unloving-or-your/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [If you're not a Christian, you're going to hell. It's not unloving to say that. it's unloving not to say that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-driscoll/if-you-re-not-a-christian-you-re-going-to-hell-it-s-not-unloving-to/) [Mark Driscoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-driscoll/) > [“Oh, am I glad to know that after all these years it still is hard trying to unlove someone; if there's such a thing...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ahmed-mostafa/oh-am-i-glad-to-know-that-after-all-these-years-it-still-is-hard/) [Ahmed Mostafa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ahmed-mostafa/) > [The kids who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving ways](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-barkley/the-kids-who-need-the-most-love-will-ask-for-it-in-the-most-unloving/) Russell Barkley > [If I were not a child with my parents, they would be more unloving toward me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivy-compton-burnett/if-i-were-not-a-child-with-my-parents-they-would-be-more-unloving/) [Ivy Compton-Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivy-compton-burnett/) > [“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/there-is-no-safe-investment-to-love-at-all-is-to-be-vulnerable-love/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [He was the unloving father that I never had, but I still craved his acceptance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-spurrier/he-was-the-unloving-father-that-i-never-had-but-i-still-craved-his/) [Steve Spurrier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-spurrier/) > [“Unloving attitudes and words cause a “stench that the world can smell. . . . Our sharp tongues, the lack of love between us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-emery-white/unloving-attitudes-and-words-cause-a-stench-that-the-world-can-smell/) [James Emery White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-emery-white/) > [“Don't hang out with people who are: Ungrateful Unhelpful Unruly Unkindly Unloving Unambitious Unmotivated or make you feel... Uncomfortable”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/don-t-hang-out-with-people-who-are-ungrateful-unhelpful-unruly/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [People who are not interested in food always seem rather dry and unloving and don't have a real gusto for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-child/people-who-are-not-interested-in-food-always-seem-rather-dry-and/) [Julia Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-child/) ## More by T. S. Eliot > [The Nobel is a ticket to one's own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-nobel-is-a-ticket-to-one-s-own-funeral-no-one-has-ever-done/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/dear-mother-i-am-getting-on-nicely-in-my-work-at-the-bank-and-like-it/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/for-love-would-be-love-of-the-wrong-thing-there-is-yet-faith-but-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We must always take risks. That is our destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-must-always-take-risks-that-is-our-destiny/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/all-significant-truths-are-private-truths-as-they-become-public-they/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/when-forced-to-work-within-a-strict-framework-the-imagination-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/honest-criticism-and-sensitive-appreciation-are-directed-not-upon-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable; Love is itself unmoving, Only the cause and end of movement, Timeless, and undesiring Except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/desire-itself-is-movement-not-in-itself-desirable-love-is-itself/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [ the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. \[He\] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-had-the-experience-but-we-missed-the-meaning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The end is in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-is-in-the-beginning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/you-have-learned-enough-to-see-that-cats-are-much-like-you-and-me/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-good-poet-welds-his-theft-into-a-whole-of-feeling-which-is-unique/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/it-s-strange-that-words-are-so-inadequate-yet-like-the-asthmatic/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/every-end-is-a-beginning-and-every-beginning-is-an-end/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) [Explore all 433 T. S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More Beloved quotes > [My Chosen Daughter, No one can define you without your permission. I want you to be so secure in who you are in Me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/god/my-chosen-daughter-no-one-can-define-you-without-your-permission-i/) God > [Why should the Marquis de Cussy wage war on soup? I cannot understand a dinner without it. I hold soup to be the well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-antoine-careme/why-should-the-marquis-de-cussy-wage-war-on-soup-i-cannot-understand/) [Marie-Antoine Careme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-antoine-careme/) > [Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, Drowning love's lonely hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/beloved-let-your-eyes-half-close-and-your-heart-beat-over-my-heart/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I made you, dear, and all I make is perfect. Please come close, for I desire you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-of-vila/i-made-you-dear-and-all-i-make-is-perfect-please-come-close-for-i/) [Teresa of Avila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-of-vila/) > [A lover asked his beloved, Do you love yourself more than you love me? Beloved replied, I have died to myself and I live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-lover-asked-his-beloved-do-you-love-yourself-more-than-you-love-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He who believes in God is not careful for the morrow, but labors joyfully and with a great heart. "For He giveth His beloved,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/he-who-believes-in-god-is-not-careful-for-the-morrow-but-labors/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [My beloved like a jewel on my crown, In my vast and blue sky you are like a full-moon. I wish to stay entrapped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ranjan-dey/my-beloved-like-a-jewel-on-my-crown-in-my-vast-and-blue-sky-you-are/) [Ranjan Dey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ranjan-dey/) > [Love is doing what will enthrall the beloved with the greatest and longest joy. What will enthrall the beloved this way is the glory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/love-is-doing-what-will-enthrall-the-beloved-with-the-greatest-and/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [Rest you well, beloved Jesus, Caesar’s Lord and Israel’s King, In the brooding of the Spirit, in the darkness of the spring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-t-wright-2/rest-you-well-beloved-jesus-caesar-s-lord-and-israel-s-king-in-the/) [N. T. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-t-wright-2/) > [My beloved friend - one of the most unique and charming personalities of our time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-carroll/my-beloved-friend-one-of-the-most-unique-and-charming-personalities/) [Lewis Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-carroll/) > [A lover goes toward his beloved as enthusiastically as a schoolboy leaving his books, but when he leaves his girlfriend, he feels as miserable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/a-lover-goes-toward-his-beloved-as-enthusiastically-as-a-schoolboy/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I lost my dad when I was younger, and I know what its like to lose a beloved parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-elkeles/i-lost-my-dad-when-i-was-younger-and-i-know-what-its-like-to-lose-a/) [Simone Elkeles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-elkeles/) > [My beloved dog defied treatment from the best and most expensive veterinarians, holistic practitioners, trainers, and animal communicators. He was simply beyond my ability…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-katz/my-beloved-dog-defied-treatment-from-the-best-and-most-expensive/) [Jon Katz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-katz/) > [Perhaps if only once you did enjoy The thousandth part of all the happiness A heart beloved enjoys, returning love, Repentant, you would surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torquato-tasso/perhaps-if-only-once-you-did-enjoy-the-thousandth-part-of-all-the/) [Torquato Tasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torquato-tasso/) > [Wicked sons do not have the Holy Ghost in the same way as do beloved sons, and yet they do have Baptism. So, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/wicked-sons-do-not-have-the-holy-ghost-in-the-same-way-as-do-beloved/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) [Browse all 1,440 Beloved quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beloved/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations? Are we all in fact unloving and unloveable? Then one is alone, and if one is alone Then lover and beloved are equally unreal And the dreamer is no more real than his dreams.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. S. 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