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W. H. Auden quotes

English Poet February 21, 1907 – September 29, 1973

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Quotes

That the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes. W. H. Auden
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
Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links, Behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks, Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye. W. H. Auden
When someone between twenty and forty says, apropos of a work of art, 'I know what I like,' he is really saying 'I have no taste of my own but accept the taste of my cultural milieu. W. H. Auden
A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly and with little relish. W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden quote: "Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good."
Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good. W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden quote: "Clear, unscaleable ahead, Rise the mountains of instead. From..."
Clear, unscaleable ahead, Rise the mountains of instead. From whose cold, cascading streams. None may drink except in dreams W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden quote: "Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don..."
Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self. W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden quote: "Learn from your dreams what you lack."
Learn from your dreams what you lack. 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. W. H. Auden
Far from his illness. The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests, The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays; By mourning tongues. The death of the poet was kept from his poems. W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden quote: "In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could..."
In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag. W. H. Auden
Although you be, as I am, one of those Who feel a Christian ought to write in prose, For poetry is magic: born in sin, you May read it to exorcies the Gentile in you. W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden quote: "We are here on earth to do good to others. What the others..."
We are here on earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know. W. H. Auden
Defenseless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame. W. H. Auden

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