We cannot be deaf to the question: 'Do I love this world so well that I have to know how it ends?
W.H. Auden
World, Love, Curiosity, Existential Questions, Environmental Concern
W.H. Auden’s Quotes On Topics
Leisure | Murder | Human Psychology | Iceland | Social Interaction | Clergy | Heaven | Patience | Martyrdom | Appearances | Simplicity | Animal Behavior | Loneliness | Uncertainty | Emotional Depth | Ivory Tower | Language | Personality | Cognitive Processes | Worry | More
More W.H. Auden Quotes
“Dance till the stars come down from the rafters Dance, Dance, Dance 'till you drop.” W.H. Auden
Dance, Enthusiasm, Cosmic Imagery, Abandon, Celebration
W.H. Auden Dance, Enthusiasm, Cosmic Imagery, Abandon, Celebration“Christmas and Easter can be subjects for poetry, but Good Friday, like Auschwitz, cannot. The reality is so horrible it is not surprising that people should have found it a stumbling block to faith.” W.H. Auden
Poetry, Faith, Suffering, Reality, Limits Of Expression
W.H. Auden Poetry, Faith, Suffering, Reality, Limits Of Expression“Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.” W.H. Auden
Identity, Self-reflection, Individuality, Metaphor, Human Nature
W.H. Auden Identity, Self-reflection, Individuality, Metaphor, Human Nature“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“Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so contemptible as the public that buys their books.” W.H. Auden
Literary Criticism, Confessional Writing, Public Consumption, Contempt, Hypocrisy
W.H. Auden Literary Criticism, Confessional Writing, Public Consumption, Contempt, Hypocrisy“One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.” W.H. Auden
Labor, Alienation, Industrialization, Metaphor, Human Experience
W.H. Auden Labor, Alienation, Industrialization, Metaphor, Human Experience“For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?” W.H. Auden
Memory, Loneliness, Human Need, Recognition, Fear
W.H. Auden Memory, Loneliness, Human Need, Recognition, Fear“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
Uniqueness, Translation, Self-disclosure, Human Nature, Individuality
W.H. Auden Uniqueness, Translation, Self-disclosure, Human Nature, Individuality“What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.” W.H. Auden
Poetry, Originality, Recognition, Truth, Reader Connection
W.H. Auden Poetry, Originality, Recognition, Truth, Reader Connection“Let me see what I wrote so I know what I think.” W.H. Auden
Writing, Thought, Self-discovery, Reflection, Creative Process
W.H. Auden Writing, Thought, Self-discovery, Reflection, Creative Process“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“It's 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, Artistic Value
W.H. Auden Poetry, Culture, Money, Art Criticism, Artistic Value“Detective stories have nothing to do with works of art.” W.H. Auden
Detective Fiction, Art, Literary Criticism, Genre Distinction, Value Judgment
W.H. Auden Detective Fiction, Art, Literary Criticism, Genre Distinction, Value Judgment“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.” W.H. Auden
Drama, Community, Participation, Audience, Ideal Theater
W.H. Auden Drama, Community, Participation, Audience, Ideal Theater“To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith.” W.H. Auden
Faith, Difficulty, Choice, Perseverance, Life Philosophy
W.H. Auden Faith, Difficulty, Choice, Perseverance, Life Philosophy“What living occasion can, Be just to the absent?” W.H. Auden
Absence, Justice, Presence, Memory, Human Relationships
W.H. Auden Absence, Justice, Presence, Memory, Human Relationships“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