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The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead.

Death, Mortality, Observation, Finality, Human Perception

The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead

The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead

The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead

W.H. Auden’s Quotes On Topics

More W.H. Auden Quotes

“The identification of fantasy is always an attempt to avoid one’s own suffering: the identification of art is the sharing in the suffering of another.”

Fantasy, Art, Empathy, Suffering, Human Connection

“If it form the one landscape that we the inconstant ones Are consistently homesick for, this is chiefly Because it dissolves in water.”

Nostalgia, Impermanence, Landscape, Water, Human Nature

“Doom is dark and deeper than any sea-dingle.”

Doom, Darkness, Depth, Poetic Imagery, Foreboding

“It's usually the stupid people that develop long illnesses. You need more than indolence and selfishness, you need endurance to make a good patient.”

Illness, Intelligence, Patience, Endurance, Social Commentary

“All good art is in the nature of a letter written to amuse a sick friend. Too much art, particularly in our time, is only a letter written to oneself.”

Art, Purpose, Friendship, Self-indulgence, Communication

“Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say.”

Health, Medicine, Wellness, Paradox, Medical Critique

“I used to try and concentrate the poem so much that there wasn't a word that wasn't essential. This leads to becoming boring and constipated.”

Poetry, Concision, Creativity, Artistic Process, Self-criticism

“Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.”

Poetry, Ireland, Suffering, Creativity, National Identity

“As a poet, there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language from corruption.”

Poetry, Language, Politics, Integrity, Responsibility

“Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.”

Fame, Writing, Vanity, Humility, Literary Critique

“Thou shalt not answer questionnaires Or quizzes upon world affairs, Nor with compliance Take any test. Thou shalt not sit with statisticians nor commit A social science.”

Individuality, Non-conformity, Social Criticism, Academic Skepticism, Personal Freedom

“Lost in a haunted wood, Children afraid of the night Who have never been happy or good.”

Childhood, Fear, Innocence, Darkness, Moral Ambiguity

“Language is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought; words will tell you things you never thought or felt before.”

Language, Thought, Expression, Creativity, Communication

“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.”

Urban Life, Society, Competition, Language, Metaphor

“See without looking, hear without listening, breathe without asking.”

Sensory Perception, Mindfulness, Intuition, Existence, Zen-like Wisdom

“Adjectives are the potbelly of poetry.”

Poetry, Language, Criticism, Excess, Metaphor

“There is no such thing as the State And no one exists alone; Hunger allows no choice To the citizen or the police; We must love one another or die.”

State, Individuality, Hunger, Love, Human Interdependence

“A shilling life will give you all the facts.”

Biography, Facts, Simplicity, Life Story, Monetary Metaphor

“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.”

Nature, Death, Poetry, Continuity, Contrast

“Poetry makes nothing happen.”

Poetry, Impact, Futility, Art Criticism, Cultural Commentary