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W. H. Auden Quotes

Total quotes: 17
“Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.”
— W. H. Auden, W. H. Auden – If I Could Tell You
Tagged: Out of Words, Love, Speechless
“Each lover has a theory of his own
About the difference between the ache
Of being with his love, & being alone:”
— W. H. Auden, Alone
Tagged: Love, romance, Lovers, Love & Relationships
“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.”
— W. H. Auden, The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, Volume V: Prose: 1963–1968
Tagged: Literary Love, Poetic, Poetry, Beautiful Quotes
“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can; all of them make me laugh.”
— W. H. Auden, Great Leadership: What It Is and What It Takes in a Complex World
Tagged: admiration, Love, difference
“When truly brothers, men don't sing in unison, but in harmony.”
— W. H. Auden, Shorts
Tagged: Rhythms, Unity, Moving Together Peacefully, Identity Within Group Harmony
“You shall love your crooked neighbour with your crooked heart.”
— W. H. Auden, As I Walked Out One Evening, Another Time
Tagged: Love, Love Thy Neighbor, Crooked Heart, Imperfect Love, The Golden Rule, We Are All Imperfect
“A well-kempt forest begs Our Lady's grace;
Someone is not disgusted, or at least
Is laying bets upon the human race
Retaining enough decency to last;
The trees encountered on a country stroll
Reveal a lot about a country's soul.”
— W. H. Auden, Collected Poems
Tagged: Nature, environment, Trees, humans, Pollution, humans destroying nature
“If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me.”
— W. H. Auden, Collected Poems: Auden
Tagged: Lit quotes, Literary Quotes, Literature
“Distance and duties divide us. But, come when you can: Your room will be ready.”
— W. H. Auden, For Friends Only
Tagged: old friends, You're Always Welcome Here, Return To Me
“Writing nasty reviews can be fun, but I don’t think the practice is very good for the character.”
— W. H. Auden, W. H. Auden, The Art of Poetry No. 17
Tagged: Criticism, Writing Bad Book Reviews
“He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest.”
— W. H. Auden, Collected Poems
Tagged: How To Say I Love You
“Be glad your being is unnecessary.”
— W. H. Auden, Epistle to a Godson
Tagged: Active Nihilism, The Freedom of Our Freedom
“The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.”
— W. H. Auden, In Memory of W. B. Yeats
Tagged: Constant Change, Owning Creation, Change After Death
“Each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom.”
— W. H. Auden, In Memory of W. B. Yeats
Tagged: The Key Is The Prison, The Key Confirms The Prison, Prison Of Belief
“A small grove massacred to the last ash,
An oak with heart-rot, give away the show:
This great society is going to smash;
They cannot fool us with how fast they go,
How much they cost each other and the gods.
A culture is no better than its woods.”
— W. H. Auden, Collected Poems
Tagged: Nature, People, Woods, humans, Society, humanity
“Our Earth in 1969 is not the planet I call mine.”
— W. H. Auden, Doggerel by a Senior Citizen
Tagged: My World Expired, Dead And Gone, Living in Exile, Citizens of Another World
“It’s very easy for a writer to be unrealistic. I have not lost my interest in politics, but I have come to realize that, in cases of social or political injustice, only two things are effective: political action and straight journalistic reportage of the facts. The arts can do nothing. The social and political history of Europe would be what it has been if Dante, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Mozart, et al., had never lived. A poet, qua poet, has only one political duty, namely, in his own writing to set an example of the correct use of his mother tongue which is always being corrupted. When words lose their meaning, physical force takes over. By all means, let a poet, if he wants to, write what is now called an ‘engagé’ poem, so long as he realizes that it is mainly himself who will benefit from it. It will enhance his literary reputation among those who feel the same as he does.”
— W. H. Auden, W. H. Auden, The Art of Poetry No. 17
Tagged: Political Poems, Social History, The Arts and Political Change, Poetry Makes Nothing Happen, Political Injustice, My Philosophy
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