JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<span class="container">
    <span>This is a centered sentence next to an image</span>
</span>

CSS

.container {
    background: url( "http://i.imgur.com/tAlPtC4.jpg" ) no-repeat;
    display: inline-block;
    background-size: 40px 40px; /* image's size */
    height: 40px; /* image's height */
    padding-left: 50px; /* image's width plus 10 px (margin between text and image) */
}

.container span {
    height: 40px; /* image's height */
    display: table-cell;
    vertical-align: middle;
}