The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

‘The Hollow Men’ (1925)
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
‘Journey of the Magi’ (1927).
But set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
‘Journey of the Magi’ (1927)
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1917)
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes.
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes.
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening.
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1917)
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1917)
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1917)
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1917)
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do