W. H. Auden quotes - page 8

Minus times minus equals plus, The reason for this we need not discuss. (W. H. Auden)
In the course of many centuries a few laborsaving devices have been introduced into the mental kitchen - alcohol, coffee, tobacco, Benzedrine, etc. View quote
W. H. Auden
A grand gesture. But what does it period? What does it osse? We were always adroiter with objects than lives, and more facile at courage than kindness: from the moment. View quote
W. H. Auden
In societies with fewer opportunities for amusement, it was also easier to tell a mere wish from a real desire. If, in order to hear some music, a man has to wait for six months and then walk twenty miles, it is easy to tell whether the words, "I should like to hear some music," mean what they appear to mean, or merely, "At this moment I should like to forget myself." View quote
W. H. Auden
The condition of mankind is, and always has been, so miserable and depraved that, if anyone were to say to the poet: "For God's sake stop singing and do something useful like putting on the kettle or fetching bandages," what just reason could he give for refusing? But nobody says this. The self-appointed unqualified nurse says: "You are to sing the patient a song which will make him believe that I, and I alone, can cure him. If you can't or won't, I shall confiscate your passport and send you to the mines." View quote
W. H. Auden
And the poor in their fireless lodgings, dropping the sheets Of the evening paper: "Our day is our loss, O show us History the operator, the Organiser, Time the refreshing river." View quote
W. H. Auden
He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest. View quote
W. H. Auden
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten? View quote
W. H. Auden
I said earlier that I do not believe an artist's life throws much light upon his works. I do believe, however, that, more often than most people realize, his works may throw light upon his life. An artist with certain imaginative ideas in his head may then involve himself in relationships which are congenial to them. View quote
W. H. Auden
Money is the necessity that frees us from necessity. Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands the role of money. Compared with him even Balzac is a romantic. View quote
W. H. Auden
Machines have no political opinions, but they have profound political effects. They demand a strict regimentation of time, and, by abolishing the need for manual skill, have transformed the majority of the population from workers into laborers. There are, that is to say, fewer and fewer jobs which a man can find a pride and satisfaction in doing well, more and more which have no interest in themselves and can be valued only for the money they provide. (W. H. Auden)
Civilizations should be measured by the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained. View quote
W. H. Auden
Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow. View quote
W. H. Auden
Political history is far too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction. View quote
W. H. Auden
I see little hope for a peaceful world until men are excluded from the realm of foreign policy altogether and all decisions concerning international relations are reserved for women, preferably married ones. View quote
W. H. Auden
Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores. View quote
W. H. Auden
Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful, but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading. View quote
W. H. Auden
God is Love, we are taught as children to believe. But when we first begin to get some inkling of how He loves us, we are repelled it seems so cold, indeed, not love at all as we understand the word. View quote
W. H. Auden
Criticism should be a casual conversation. View quote
W. H. Auden
When one has great gifts, what answer to the meaning of existence should one require beyond the right to exercise them. View quote
W. H. Auden
The critical opinions of a writer should always be taken with a large grain of salt. For the most part, they are manifestations of his debate with himself as to what he should do next and what he should avoid. (W. H. Auden)
Precisely because we do not communicate by singing, a song can be out of place but not out of character it is just as credible that a stupid person should sing beautifully as that a clever person should do so. View quote
W. H. Auden
Happy the hare at morning, for she cannot read; The Hunter's waking thoughts. View quote
W. H. Auden
Goodness is easier to recognize than to define. View quote
W. H. Auden
The glacier knocks in the cupboard, The desert sighs in the bed, And the crack in the tea-cup opens; A lane to the land of the dead. View quote
W. H. Auden