A man is a form of life that dreams in order to act and acts in order to dream. — W. H. Auden Dream Copy Share Image
We were put on this Earth to help others. Why others were put here is beyond me. — W. H. Auden Earth Copy Share Image
One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell. — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible. — W. H. Auden Aesthetics Copy Share Image
To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself... — W. H. Auden Attention Copy Share Image
Few people take an interest in Iceland, but in those few the interest is passionate. — W. H. Auden Iceland Copy Share Image
From beginning to end Wilde performed his life and continued to do so even after fame had taken the plot out of… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
August for the people and their favourite islands. Daily the steamers sidle up to meet The effusive welcome of the pier. — W. H. Auden August Copy Share Image
In the end, art is small beer. The really serious things are earning one's living so as not to be a parasite… — W. H. Auden Art Copy Share Image
Encased in talent like a uniform, The rank of every poet is well known; They can amaze us like a thunderstorm, Or… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
It is nonsense to speak of 'higher' and 'lower' pleasures. To a hungry man it is, rightly, more important that he eat… — W. H. Auden Food Copy Share Image
The definition of prayer is paying careful and concentrated attention to something other than your own constructions. — W. H. Auden Attention Copy Share Image
The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of… — W. H. Auden Child Copy Share Image
To me Art's subject is the human clay, / And landscape but a background to a torso; / All Cezanne's apples I… — W. H. Auden Apples Copy Share Image
It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too much. I can see myself doing it.… — W. H. Auden America Copy Share Image
The primary function of poetry, as of all the arts, is to make us more aware of ourselves and the world around… — W. H. Auden Art Copy Share Image
The most difficult problem in personal knowledge, whether of oneself or of others, is the problem of guessing when to think as… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but… — W. H. Auden Art Copy Share Image
Why doesn't the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. Naturally the longer you… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
“O look, look in the mirror O look in your distress Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless O stand, stand… — W. H. Auden Blessings Copy Share Image
Slavery is so intolerable a condition that the slave can hardly escape deluding himself into thinking that he is choosing to obey… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
I see little hope for a peaceful world until men are excluded from the realm of foreign policy altogether and all decisions… — W. H. Auden Decision Copy Share Image
The ideal audience the poet imagines consists of the beautiful who go to bed with him, the powerful who invite him to… — W. H. Auden Audience Copy Share Image
Christ did not enchant men; He demanded that they believe in Him: except on one occasion, the Transfiguration. For a brief while,… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
To discover how to be human now is the reason we follow this star. — W. H. Auden Astronomy Copy Share Image
“No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.” — W. H. Auden Opera Copy Share Image
The poet marries the language, and out of this marriage the poem is born. — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable. — W. H. Auden Funny Copy Share Image
