W.H. Auden Quotes
No poet or novelist wishes he was the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number believe their wish has been granted.
Evil is unspectacular and always human, And shares our bed and eats at our own table ....
The enlightenment driven away, The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief:We must suffer them all again.
He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself as a self-despiser. (Nietz
We are, for all our polish, of littlestature, and, as human lives, compared with authentic martyrs, of no account.
In most poetic expressions of patriotism, it is impossible to distinguish what is one of the greatest human virtues from the worst human vice, collective egotism.
All who live possess eternal life, and few would trade it for an immortal body, if they truly understood what it is to be alive.
Choice of attention to pay attention to this and ignore that is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer.
Choice of attention ... is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences whatever they may be.
What the mass media offer is not popular art but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food forgotten and replaced by a new dish.
The relation of faith between subject and object is unique in every case. Hundreds may believe but each has to believe by himself.
We are all here on earth to help others what on earth the others are here for I don't know.
It is nonsense to speak of 'higher' and 'lower' pleasures. To a hungry man it is rightly more important that he eat than that he philosophize.
Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation a mental or physical barter to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods.
Among those whom I like or admire I can find no common denominator but among those whom I love I can: all of them make me laugh.
Any marriage happy or unhappy is infinitely more interesting and significant than any romance however passionate.
My poetry doesn't change from place to place - it changes with the years. It's very important to be one's age. You get ideas you have to turn down - 'I'm sorry no longer' 'I'm sorry not yet.'
The ear tends to be lazy craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected the eye on the other hand tends to be impatient craves the novel and is bored by repetition.
About suffering they were never wrong The Old Masters How well they understood Its human position how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along.
It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practising it.
'Healing, ' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a room full of dukes.
We are all here on earth to help others what on earth the others are here for I don't know.
It's a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.