The 1st half (up to "whimper") is T.S. Eliot.
The 2nd half ("but without people noticing...") is Claus.
The context, if I recall, was that human beings seem incapable of addressing some of our biggest problems because we can't even agree on either (a) what the problem actually is and/or (b) the framework with which we address them ... and as the problems get bigger, and more existential, this becomes an end-of-the-world problem.
(It was on the subject of something like climate change)
