About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; How well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along.
W.H. Auden
Suffering, Art, Human Condition, Everyday Life, Perception
W.H. Auden’s Quotes On Topics
Artistic Constraints | Artistic Process | Lust | Fantasy | Education | Literary Identity | Priorities | Mental Processes | Murder | Sleep | Nobility | Imagination | Meaning | Sexuality | Everyday Objects | Cats | Writers | Duty | Historical Perspective | Literary Pressure | More
More W.H. Auden Quotes
“The most exciting rhythms seem unexpected and complex, the most beautiful melodies simple and inevitable.” W.H. Auden
Music, Complexity, Simplicity, Beauty, Artistic Perception
W.H. Auden Music, Complexity, Simplicity, Beauty, Artistic Perception“There is a difference between a villain and one who simply commits a crime. The villain is an extremely conscious person and commits a crim consciously, for its own sake.” W.H. Auden
Villainy, Crime, Consciousness, Morality, Intention
W.H. Auden Villainy, Crime, Consciousness, Morality, Intention“In any first-class work of art, you can find passages that in themselves are extremely boring, but try to cut them out, as they are in an abridged edition, and you lose the life of the work. Don't think that art that is alive can remain on the same level of interest throughout – and the same is true of life.” W.H. Auden
Art, Boredom, Wholeness, Life, Artistic Integrity
W.H. Auden Art, Boredom, Wholeness, Life, Artistic Integrity“Great art is clear thinking about mixed feelings.” W.H. Auden
Art, Clarity, Emotions, Complexity, Artistic Insight
W.H. Auden Art, Clarity, Emotions, Complexity, Artistic Insight“One rational voice is dumb: over a grave The household of Impulse mourns one dearly loved. Sad is Eros, builder of cities, And weeping anarchic Aphrodite.” W.H. Auden
Rationality, Grief, Love, Mythology, Human Emotion
W.H. Auden Rationality, Grief, Love, Mythology, Human Emotion“Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.” W.H. Auden
Poetry, Emotions, Clarity, Expression, Definition
W.H. Auden Poetry, Emotions, Clarity, Expression, Definition“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
Murder, Society, Justice, Forgiveness, Social Responsibility
W.H. Auden Murder, Society, Justice, Forgiveness, Social Responsibility“Oh, how I wish that Orwell were still alive, so that I could read his comments on contemporary events!” W.H. Auden
Literary Admiration, Commentary, Relevance, Contemporary Issues, Nostalgia
W.H. Auden Literary Admiration, Commentary, Relevance, Contemporary Issues, Nostalgia“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.” W.H. Auden
Money, Freedom, Literature, Realism, Financial Insight
W.H. Auden Money, Freedom, Literature, Realism, Financial Insight“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
Poetry, Culture, Money, Art Criticism, Societal Values
W.H. Auden Poetry, Culture, Money, Art Criticism, Societal Values“All the rest is silence On the other side of the wall, And the silence ripeness, And the ripeness all.” W.H. Auden
Silence, Completeness, Metaphor, Finality, Poetic Imagery
W.H. Auden Silence, Completeness, Metaphor, Finality, Poetic Imagery“Shall memory restore The steps and the shore, The face and the meeting place;.” W.H. Auden
Memory, Restoration, Place, Relationships, Nostalgia
W.H. Auden Memory, Restoration, Place, Relationships, Nostalgia“With the farming of a verse Make a vineyard of the curse.” W.H. Auden
Poetry, Transformation, Creativity, Metaphor, Redemption
W.H. Auden Poetry, Transformation, Creativity, Metaphor, Redemption“It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to know in what direction to point that organ.” W.H. Auden
Perception, Talent, Insight, Direction, Human Capabilities
W.H. Auden Perception, Talent, Insight, Direction, Human Capabilities“Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at night, but do not enter into relations. But not for the novel.” W.H. Auden
Literary Criticism, Hemingway, Writing Technique, Relationships, Novel Writing
W.H. Auden Literary Criticism, Hemingway, Writing Technique, Relationships, Novel Writing“Now is the age of anxiety.” W.H. Auden
Anxiety, Modernity, Zeitgeist, Human Condition, Contemporary Life
W.H. Auden Anxiety, Modernity, Zeitgeist, Human Condition, Contemporary Life“Intellectual disgrace Stares from every human face, And the seas of pity lie Locked and frozen in each eye.” W.H. Auden
Intellectual Failure, Human Condition, Empathy, Societal Critique, Poetic Imagery
W.H. Auden Intellectual Failure, Human Condition, Empathy, Societal Critique, Poetic Imagery