this is the way the world ends / not with a bang but a whimper

The phrase "this is the way the world ends" is a famous line from T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," published in 1925. It expresses a vision of the end of the world not as a dramatic, explosive event ("not with a bang") but as something anticlimactic and fading away quietly ("but a whimper"). The line suggests a gradual decline or fading of civilization, rather than a sudden, catastrophic end. It reflects themes of disillusionment, decay, and a lack of heroic resolution in the aftermath of World War I, evoking a sense of emptiness and spiritual desolation.