W. H. Auden quotes

W. H. Auden was an influential Anglo-American poet, noted for his technical virtuosity and wide-ranging themes. His works address social, political, and psychological subjects with insight and wit. He became a central figure in twentieth-century poetry and inspired generations of writers. Here are 227 of his quotes:

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered. (W. H. Auden)
We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know. View quote
W. H. Auden
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. View quote
W. H. Auden
No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. View quote
W. H. Auden
Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic. View quote
W. H. Auden
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. View quote
W. H. Auden
No hero is mortal till he dies. View quote
W. H. Auden
Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do. View quote
W. H. Auden
Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table. View quote
W. H. Auden
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. View quote
W. H. Auden
Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self. (W. H. Auden)
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. View quote
W. H. Auden
No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted. View quote
W. H. Auden
Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy of one. View quote
W. H. Auden
A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. View quote
W. H. Auden
All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation. View quote
W. H. Auden
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. View quote
W. H. Auden
One cannot review a bad book without showing off. View quote
W. H. Auden
What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish. View quote
W. H. Auden
The surest sign that a man has a genuine taste of his own is that he is uncertain of it. View quote
W. H. Auden
Now is the age of anxiety. (W. H. Auden)
Music is the best means we have of digesting time. View quote
W. H. Auden
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. View quote
W. H. Auden
Man is a history-making creature, who can neither repeat his past, nor leave it behind. View quote
W. H. Auden
It is. . . axiomatic that we should all think of ourselves as being more sensitive than other people because, when we are insensitive in our dealings with others, we cannot be aware of it at the time conscious insensitivity is a self-contradiction. View quote
W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden - Image
Occupation: English Poet
Born: February 21, 1907
Died: September 29, 1973
Quotes count: 227
Wikipedia: W. H. Auden

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