--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is only in the world of objects that…" description: "\"It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves.\" — T. S. Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc5/t-s-eliot-633_objects_it-is-only-in-the-world-of-objects-that_2936769.png" --- # It is only in the world of objects that we have time and… ![“It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves.” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc5/t-s-eliot-633_objects_it-is-only-in-the-world-of-objects-that_2936769.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc5/t-s-eliot-633_objects_it-is-only-in-the-world-of-objects-that_2936769.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc5/t-s-eliot-633_objects_it-is-only-in-the-world-of-objects-that_2936769.png) > “It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves.” [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. Human experience is framed by material reality, giving shape to time, space, and identity. **In simple terms:** Objects give us our sense of time and self. Key Takeaway Recognize the limits of material perception. Themes philosophy existence identity Mood contemplative introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - daily life - self‑reflection - creative work Key Concepts Phenomenology ontological framing Questions to Reflect On - How do non‑material aspects shape your identity? - Can you find meaning beyond objects? A Different Perspective Physical constraints may overlook spiritual or relational dimensions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time and space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-and-space/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [There is always a reason behind things that are made, and if there isn't, there will be one when they travel through the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-wanders/there-is-always-a-reason-behind-things-that-are-made-and-if-there-isn/) [Marcel Wanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-wanders/) > [The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-world-is-full-of-objects-more-or-less-interesting-i-do-not-wish/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I want to create a world with objects and surroundings that are human, more romantic, and less sterile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-wanders/i-want-to-create-a-world-with-objects-and-surroundings-that-are-human/) [Marcel Wanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-wanders/) > [“The world of quantum mechanics is not a world of objects: it is a world of events.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlo-rovelli/the-world-of-quantum-mechanics-is-not-a-world-of-objects-it-is-a/) [Carlo Rovelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlo-rovelli/) > [The mind is a metaphor of the world of objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-mind-is-a-metaphor-of-the-world-of-objects/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“The illusion of time and space that has been introduced by those who want to commodities and monetize on the time and space of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-scott-senior-fellow-the-center-for-cyber-influence-operations-studies/the-illusion-of-time-and-space-that-has-been-introduced-by-those-who/) James Scott, Senior Fellow, The Center for Cyber Influence Operations Studies > [Happiness is like time and space-we make and measure it ourselves; it is as fancy, as big, as little, as you please, just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-du-maurier/happiness-is-like-time-and-space-we-make-and-measure-it-ourselves-it/) [George du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-du-maurier/) > [Once we have conceived of time and space, once we have accepted their existence, then that implies that there is a structural order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/once-we-have-conceived-of-time-and-space-once-we-have-accepted-their/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“But forecasters often resist considering these out-of-sample problems. When we expand our sample to include events further apart from us in time and space,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-silver/but-forecasters-often-resist-considering-these-out-of-sample-problems/) [Nate Silver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-silver/) > [In reality, time and space exist in you. You do not exist in them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/in-reality-time-and-space-exist-in-you-you-do-not-exist-in-them/) [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/) > [The historian must be a poet; not to find, but to find again; not to breathe life into beings, into imaginary deeds, but in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philibert-joseph-roux/the-historian-must-be-a-poet-not-to-find-but-to-find-again-not-to/) [Philibert Joseph Roux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philibert-joseph-roux/) > [We both wondered whether these contradictions that one can't avoid if one begins to think of time and space may not really be proofs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-machen/we-both-wondered-whether-these-contradictions-that-one-can-t-avoid-if/) [Arthur Machen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-machen/) > [In 'Past Lives,' the villains of the story are time and space - 23years and the Pacific Ocean - so those things needed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celine-song/in-past-lives-the-villains-of-the-story-are-time-and-space-23years/) [Celine Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celine-song/) > [I have all the time and space in the world when I write a book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/i-have-all-the-time-and-space-in-the-world-when-i-write-a-book/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [Time and space are only forms of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-nesbit/time-and-space-are-only-forms-of-thought/) [E. Nesbit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-nesbit/) ## 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 Objects quotes > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [How do you, on the one hand, not object to Hillary Clinton being elected, and then, on the other hand, tell people, "Elect me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/how-do-you-on-the-one-hand-not-object-to-hillary-clinton-being/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [And so it is, that both the Devil and the angelic Spirit present us with objects of desire to awaken our power of choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/and-so-it-is-that-both-the-devil-and-the-angelic-spirit-present-us/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [ He \[an earnest young reporter\] seemed to share the view of many intelligent, well-educated, well-meaning people that, while adult literature may aim to be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-paterson/he-an-earnest-young-reporter-seemed-to-share-the-view-of-many/) [Katherine Paterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-paterson/) > [A lot of my work involves instilling objects with the power of touch - a transference of soul, spirit, energy through actions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-colen/a-lot-of-my-work-involves-instilling-objects-with-the-power-of-touch/) [Dan Colen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-colen/) > [God is a reality of spirit He cannot be conceived as an object, not even as the very highest object. God is not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-berdyaev/god-is-a-reality-of-spirit-he-cannot-be-conceived-as-an-object-not/) [Nikolai Berdyaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-berdyaev/) > [The things of the world are ever rising and falling, and in perpetual change; and this change must be according to the will of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-von-humboldt/the-things-of-the-world-are-ever-rising-and-falling-and-in-perpetual/) [Wilhelm von Humboldt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-von-humboldt/) > [... the happiness of a people is the only rational object of government, and the only object for which a people, free to choose,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-wright/the-happiness-of-a-people-is-the-only-rational-object-of-government/) [Frances Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-wright/) > [Used with due abstinence, hope acts as a healthful tonic; intemperately indulged, as an enervating opiate. The visions of future triumph, which at first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-fitzjames-stephen/used-with-due-abstinence-hope-acts-as-a-healthful-tonic-intemperately/) [James Fitzjames Stephen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-fitzjames-stephen/) > [Poems come from ordinary experiences and objects, I think. Out of memory - a dress I lent my daughter on her way back to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/poems-come-from-ordinary-experiences-and-objects-i-think-out-of/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [I think dressing up or down should be a creative experience. Exciting. Fun. For me the key to personal style lies in accessories. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-apfel/i-think-dressing-up-or-down-should-be-a-creative-experience-exciting/) [Iris Apfel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-apfel/) > [No matter the style, the farther one goes the more obstacles increase, and the more distant appears the object it is desired to attain.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-georges-noverre/no-matter-the-style-the-farther-one-goes-the-more-obstacles-increase/) [Jean-Georges Noverre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-georges-noverre/) Browse all 3,786 Objects quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. S. 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