Quotes by W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

American poet

Lived from: 1907 - 1973

Category: Poets (Contemporary)

Quotes 21 till 40 of 70.

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  • Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • I cannot accept the doctrine that in poetry there is a ''suspension of belief.'' A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • If the most significant characteristic of man is the complex of biological needs he shares with all members of his species, then the best lives for the writer to observe are those in which the role of natural necessity is clearest, namely, the lives of the very poor.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • 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 practicing it.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • It is already possible to imagine a society in which the majority of the population, that is to say, its laborers, will have almost as much leisure as in earlier times was enjoyed by the aristocracy. When one recalls how aristocracies in the past actually behaved, the prospect is not cheerful.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • 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.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose, a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too much. I can see myself doing it. In England, one feels all the social restraints holding one back. But here, anything can happen.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so contemptible as the public that buys their books.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God has to have faith in us and, considering the history of the human race so far, may it not be that ''faith'' is even more difficult for Him than it is for us?
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness; it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • My deepest feeling about politicians is that they are dangerous lunatics to be avoided when possible and carefully humored; people, above all, to whom one must never tell the truth.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • 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.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called Games.
    ― W. H. Auden
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  • 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.
    ― W. H. Auden
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