--- 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/2cf/t-s-eliot-633_apple-trees_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_1734689.png" --- # 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/2cf/t-s-eliot-633_apple-trees_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_1734689.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/t-s-eliot-633_apple-trees_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_1734689.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/t-s-eliot-633_apple-trees_we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and_1734689.png) > “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](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. Exploration leads back to origins, revealing familiar truths when we return with fresh eyes. **In simple terms:** Returning reveals what we missed. Key Takeaway Seek new experiences, then reflect on their meaning. Themes exploration reflection origin knowledge cycle Mood contemplative hopeful Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - travel - research - personal growth - creative projects - spiritual quests Key Concepts philosophy poetry journey Questions to Reflect On - What have you rediscovered after a long search? - How does returning change your perception? A Different Perspective The insight may be idealized and hard to achieve in routine life. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Apple trees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apple-trees/) [Apples](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apples/) [Cease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cease/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Discover Beginning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discover-beginning-1463536/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [End Exploring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-exploring-1126312/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Exploration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploration/) [Exploration End](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploration-end-1463535/) [Exploring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploring/) [First time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-time/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gates/) [Half](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/half/) [Heard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heard/) [Known](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/known/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Quartets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quartets/) [Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered/) [Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivers/) [Sea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sea/) [Source](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/source/) [Stillness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stillness/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/voice/) [Waterfalls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waterfalls/) [Wave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wave/) ## 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-2/we-shall-not-cease-from-exploration-and-the-end-of-all-our-exploring-4/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time, The distraction fit, lost in a shaft…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/for-most-of-us-there-is-only-the-unattended-moment-the-moment-in-and-2/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [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/) > [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/) > [Cling, swing, Spring, sing, Swing up into the apple tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/cling-swing-spring-sing-swing-up-into-the-apple-tree/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [At the still point, there the dance is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/at-the-still-point-there-the-dance-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [A people without history Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern Of timeless moments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/a-people-without-history-is-not-redeemed-from-time-for-history-is-a/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Cold Mountain Buddhas Han Shan Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/cold-mountain-buddhas-han-shan-wait-without-thought-for-you-are-not/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-hint-half-guessed-the-gift-half-understood-is-incarnation/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [There is, it seems to us, At best, only a limited value In the knowledge derived from experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/there-is-it-seems-to-us-at-best-only-a-limited-value-in-the-knowledge/) [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/) ## 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 Apple trees quotes > [Fortunately, like most children, I had learned what is most valuable, most indispensable for life before school years began, taught by apple trees, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/fortunately-like-most-children-i-had-learned-what-is-most-valuable/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [A comely sight indeed it is to see, a world of blossoms on an apple tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bunyan/a-comely-sight-indeed-it-is-to-see-a-world-of-blossoms-on-an-apple/) [John Bunyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bunyan/) > [My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water'd shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-rossetti/my-heart-is-like-a-singing-bird-whose-nest-is-in-a-water-d-shoot-my/) [Christina Rossetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-rossetti/) > [Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/therefore-all-seasons-shall-be-sweet-to-thee-whether-the-summer/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Jacob wrote that the true poet 'is like a man who is happy anywhere, in endless measure, if he is allowed to look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/jacob-wrote-that-the-true-poet-is-like-a-man-who-is-happy-anywhere-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She had learned, in her life, that time lived inside you. You are time, you breathe time. When she'd been young, she'd had an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wroblewski/she-had-learned-in-her-life-that-time-lived-inside-you-you-are-time/) [David Wroblewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wroblewski/) > [The farther north you go, the fewer fruits and vegetables there are. What kind of apple trees do you suggest the Inuit get their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-farther-north-you-go-the-fewer-fruits-and-vegetables-there-are/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/the-apple-tree-never-asks-the-beech-how-he-shall-grow-nor-the-lion/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [A charitable man is like an apple tree-he gives his fruit and is silent; the philanthropist is like the successful hen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-o-malley/a-charitable-man-is-like-an-apple-tree-he-gives-his-fruit-and-is/) [Austin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-o-malley/) > [You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/you-have-to-love-you-have-to-feel-it-is-the-reason-you-are-here-on/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) > [Life rises out of death, death rises out of life; in being opposite they yearn to each other, they give birth to each other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/life-rises-out-of-death-death-rises-out-of-life-in-being-opposite/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Martin Luther was asked, what would you do if tomorrow the world would come to an end, and he said, 'I would plant an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/martin-luther-was-asked-what-would-you-do-if-tomorrow-the-world-would/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [I require silence to write the way an apple tree requires winter to make fruit. Being with people is intimate and joyous, but at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-require-silence-to-write-the-way-an-apple-tree-requires-winter-to/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [“My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-sewell/my-troubles-are-all-over-and-i-am-at-home-and-often-before-i-am-quite/) [Anna Sewell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-sewell/) > [This apple tree is not the first one I draw, but perhaps the thousandth. I feel the sap rise to its spreading branches. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-franck/this-apple-tree-is-not-the-first-one-i-draw-but-perhaps-the/) [Frederick Franck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-franck/) [Browse all 62 Apple trees quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apple-trees/) ```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. 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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. S. 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