People always get what they want. But there is a price for everything. Failures are either those who do not know what they want or are not prepared to pay the price asked them. The price varies from individual to individual. Some get things at bargain-sale prices, others only at famine prices. But it is no use grumbling. Whatever price you are asked, you must pay.

The Complete Works of W. H. Auden: Prose. 1939-1948 (ed. Princeton University Press, 2002) - ISBN: 9780691089355