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W. H. Auden Quotes
294 Sourced Quotes
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Each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom.
W. H. Auden
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All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation.
W. H. Auden
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I am beginning to lose patience
With my personal relations.
They are not deep
And they are not cheap.
W. H. Auden
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Put the car away; when life fails
What's the good of going to Wales?
Here am I, here are you:
But what does it mean? What are we going to do?
W. H. Auden
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Any one who attempts to translate from one tongue into another will know moods of despair when he feels he is wasting his time upon an impossible task. But, irrespective of success or failure, the mere attempt can teach a writer much about his own language which he would find it hard to learn elsewhere.
W. H. Auden
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A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.
W. H. Auden
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Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.
W. H. Auden
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To the man-in-the-street, who, I'm sorry to say,
Is a keen observer of life,
The word 'Intellectual' suggests straight away
A man who's untrue to his wife.
W. H. Auden
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Aphorisms are essentially an aristocratic genre of writing.
W. H. Auden
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A million eyes, a million boots in line,
Without expression, waiting for a sign.
W. H. Auden
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I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street, I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.
W. H. Auden
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Base words are uttered only by the base
And can for such at once be understood;
But noble platitudes — ah, there's a case
Where the most careful scrutiny is needed
To tell a voice that's genuinely good
From one that's base but merely has succeeded.
W. H. Auden
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Though the great artists of the past could not change the course of history, it is only through their work that we are able to break bread with the dead, and without communion with the dead a fully human life is impossible.
W. H. Auden
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Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse.
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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Nobody knows what the cause is,
Though some pretend they do;
It's like some hidden assassin
Waiting to strike at you.
W. H. Auden
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Now the leaves are falling fast,
Nurse's flowers will not last;
Nurses to their graves are gone,
And the prams go rolling on.
W. H. Auden
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Every farthing of the cost,
All the dreaded cards foretell,
Shall be paid, but from this night Not a whisper, not a thought,
Not a kiss nor look be lost.
W. H. Auden
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When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.
W. H. Auden
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Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a journalist.
W. H. Auden
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Pleasure is by no means an infallible guide, but it is the least fallible.
W. H. Auden
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In a national capital Mirabeau and his set
Attacked mystery ; the packed galleries roared
And history marched to the drums of a clear idea,
The aim of the Rational City, quick to admire,
Quick to tire.
W. H. Auden
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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
W. H. Auden
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Over the tea-cups and in the square the tongue has its desire; Still waters run deep, my dear, there's never smoke without fire.
W. H. Auden
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The law cannot forgive, for the law has not been wronged, only broken; only persons can be wronged. The law can pardon, but it can only pardon what it has the power to punish.
W. H. Auden
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Quote of the day
Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
Dorothy L. Sayers
W. H. Auden
Creative Commons
Born:
February 21, 1907
Died:
September 29, 1973
(aged 66)
Bio:
Wystan Hugh Auden was an Anglo-American poet noted for his vast poetic work in many forms on many themes.
Known for:
Funeral Blues
Poems
Musée des Beaux Arts
The Unknown Citizen
The Age of Anxiety
Most used words:
man
love
people
time
human
poetry
poet
art
life
law
day
find
heart
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