I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade.
W.H. Auden
Uncertainty, Fear, Disillusionment, Urban Life, Historical Reflection
W.H. Auden’s Quotes On Topics
Self-deprecation | Excess | Joy | Madness | Gender Roles | Philosophical Definition | Fiction | Oscar Wilde | Intention | Happiness | Colonialism | Public Interest | Mental Processes | Limitations | Poetry Criticism | Language | Realism | Self-perception | Social Interaction | Planning | More
More W.H. Auden Quotes
“Any society is in danger of dismissing the virtue of another society because of its vices, and a democracy is always in danger of not paying enough attention to manners and forms.” W.H. Auden
Society, Virtue, Vice, Democracy, Cultural Criticism
W.H. Auden Society, Virtue, Vice, Democracy, Cultural Criticism“Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life.” W.H. Auden
Martyrdom, Mundanity, Suffering, Contrast, Everyday Life
W.H. Auden Martyrdom, Mundanity, Suffering, Contrast, Everyday Life“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
Intellectuals, Perception, Stereotypes, Societal Values, Criticism
W.H. Auden Intellectuals, Perception, Stereotypes, Societal Values, Criticism“Clear, unscaleable ahead, Rise the mountains of instead From whose cold, cascading streams None may drink except in dreams.” W.H. Auden
Obstacles, Dreams, Impossibility, Nature Imagery, Poetic Metaphor
W.H. Auden Obstacles, Dreams, Impossibility, Nature Imagery, Poetic Metaphor“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” W.H. Auden
Routine, Intelligence, Ambition, Discipline, Productivity
W.H. Auden Routine, Intelligence, Ambition, Discipline, Productivity“The most important truths are likely to be those which society at that time least wants to hear.” W.H. Auden
Truth, Society, Resistance, Unpopularity, Social Criticism
W.H. Auden Truth, Society, Resistance, Unpopularity, Social Criticism“The nightingales are sobbing in The orchards of our mothers, And hearts that we broke long ago Have long been breaking others; Tears are round, the sea is deep: Roll them overboard and sleep.” W.H. Auden
Nostalgia, Heartbreak, Consequences, Nature Imagery, Emotional Release
W.H. Auden Nostalgia, Heartbreak, Consequences, Nature Imagery, Emotional Release“Let us honor if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the horizontal one.” W.H. Auden
Values, Morality, Societal Preferences, Human Nature, Irony
W.H. Auden Values, Morality, Societal Preferences, Human Nature, Irony“I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade.” W.H. Auden
Uncertainty, Fear, Disillusionment, Urban Life, Historical Reflection
W.H. Auden Uncertainty, Fear, Disillusionment, Urban Life, Historical Reflection“One cannot review a bad book without showing off.” W.H. Auden
Criticism, Vanity, Literature, Reviewing, Intellectual Display
W.H. Auden Criticism, Vanity, Literature, Reviewing, Intellectual Display“Cathedrals, luxury liners laden with souls, Holding to the east their hulls of stone.” W.H. Auden
Architecture, Spirituality, Metaphor, Human Cargo, Religion
W.H. Auden Architecture, Spirituality, Metaphor, Human Cargo, Religion“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
Narcissism, Self-love, Beauty, Aging, Mythology
W.H. Auden Narcissism, Self-love, Beauty, Aging, Mythology“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
Death, Stories, Hidden Layers, Perception, Complexity
W.H. Auden Death, Stories, Hidden Layers, Perception, Complexity“A vice in common can be the ground of a friendship but not a virtue in common. X and Y may be friends because they are both drunkards or womanizers but, if they are both sober and chaste, they are friends for some other reason.” W.H. Auden
Friendship, Vice, Virtue, Human Nature, Relationships
W.H. Auden Friendship, Vice, Virtue, Human Nature, Relationships“To choose one's victim, to prepare one's plan minutely, to slake an implacable vengeance, and then go to bed ... there is nothing sweeter in the world.” W.H. Auden
Revenge, Planning, Satisfaction, Darkness, Human Nature
W.H. Auden Revenge, Planning, Satisfaction, Darkness, Human Nature“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“The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of their own.” W.H. Auden
Childhood, Identity, Development, Masks, Human Nature
W.H. Auden Childhood, Identity, Development, Masks, Human Nature“Who on earth invented the silly convention that it is boring or impolite to talk shop? Nothing is more interesting to listen to, especially if the shop is not one's own.” W.H. Auden
Conversation, Interests, Social Conventions, Curiosity, Work Discussions
W.H. Auden Conversation, Interests, Social Conventions, Curiosity, Work Discussions“I am sure it is everyone's experience, as it has been mine, that any discovery we make about ourselves or the meaning of life is never, like a scientific discovery, a coming upon something entirely new and unsuspected; it is rather, the coming to conscious recognition of something, which we really knew all the time but, because we were unwilling to formulate it correctly, we did not hitherto know we knew.” W.H. Auden
Self-discovery, Knowledge, Consciousness, Human Nature, Philosophical Insight
W.H. Auden Self-discovery, Knowledge, Consciousness, Human Nature, Philosophical Insight