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There's always another story. There's more than meets the eye.

Perspective, Hidden Truths, Complexity, Storytelling, Perception

There's always another story There's more than meets the eye

There's always another story There's more than meets the eye

There's always another story There's more than meets the eye

W.H. Auden’s Quotes On Topics

Literary Biography | Forgiveness | Literary Studies | Essence | Language | Redemption | Cosmic Imagery | Comparison | Determinism | Games | Money | Finality | Architecture | Photography | Senses | Survival | Performance | Literary Pressure | Existential Questions | Simplicity | More

More W.H. Auden Quotes

“Encased in talent like a uniform, The rank of every poet is well known; They can amaze us like a thunderstorm, Or die so young, or live for years alone.”

Poetry, Talent, Fame, Isolation, Artistic Life

“Composing mortals with immortal fire.”

Creativity, Mortality, Art, Inspiration, Poetic Imagery

“No hero is mortal till he dies.”

Heroism, Mortality, Legacy, Life, Human Condition

“Nobody is ever sent to Hell: he or she insists on going there.”

Hell, Free Will, Choice, Responsibility, Theological Insight

“Each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom.”

Individuality, Freedom, Self-deception, Isolation, Human Condition

“The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of their own.”

Childhood, Identity, Development, Masks, Human Nature

“An unmanly sort of man whose love life seems to have been largely confined to crying in laps and playing mouse.”

Masculinity, Love, Criticism, Weakness, Character Assessment

“Caesar's double-bed is warm As an unimportant clerk Writes i do not like my work On a pink official form.”

Power, Bureaucracy, Discontent, Contrast, Mundanity

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.”

Grief, Mourning, Silence, Death, Ritual

“If a writer is not afraid of dying of exposure, he is an idiot.”

Writing, Risk, Exposure, Bravery, Artistic Integrity

“Criticism should be a casual conversation.”

Criticism, Conversation, Informality, Literary Discourse, Approachability

“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.”

Money, Freedom, Literature, Realism, Financial Insight

“A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.”

Illusion, Enchantment, Permanence, Human Experience, Disillusionment

“A poor American feels guilty at being poor, but less guilty than an American rentier who has inherited wealth but is doing nothingto increase it; what can the latter do but take to drink and psychoanalysis?”

Wealth, Guilt, American Culture, Idleness, Social Commentary

“I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street.”

Love, Impossibility, Poetic Exaggeration, Commitment, Nature Imagery

“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

“Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods.”

Relationships, Exploitation, Human Nature, Transactional, Cynicism

“Truth, like love and sleep, resents approaches that are too direct.”

Truth, Love, Sleep, Indirectness, Human Nature

“Aside from purely technical analysis, nothing can be said about music, except when it is bad; when it is good, one can only listen and be grateful.”

Music, Criticism, Appreciation, Quality, Gratitude

“Drama began as the act of a whole community. Ideally, there would be no speculators. In practice, every member of the audience should feel like an understudy.”

Drama, Community, Participation, Audience, Ideal Theater