---
title: "3 Bores Quotes By W. H. Auden"
description: "3 Bores quotes by W. H. Auden. Plus more from W. H. Auden and more Bores sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/w-h-auden-856_bores_men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-te_66295.png"
---

> [Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-telling-them-they-are-not-bores/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/w-h-auden-856_bores_men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-te_66295.png)

> [If music in general is an imitation of history, opera in particular is an imitation of human willfulness; it is rooted in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/if-music-in-general-is-an-imitation-of-history-opera-in-particular-is/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/728/w-h-auden-856_bores_if-music-in-general-is-an-imitation-of-h_2163058.jpg)

> [A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/a-tremendous-number-of-people-in-america-work-very-hard-at-something/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/341/w-h-auden-856_america_a-tremendous-number-of-people-in-america_2458399.png)

## Other authors on Bores

## More by W. H. Auden

> [Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/pleasure-is-by-no-means-an-infallible-critical-guide-but-it-is-the/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [Why doesn't the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. Naturally the longer you wait, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/why-doesn-t-the-united-states-take-over-the-monarchy-and-unite-with/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/the-commonest-ivory-tower-is-that-of-the-average-man-the-state-of/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [Harrow the house of the dead; look shining at New styles of architecture, a change of heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/harrow-the-house-of-the-dead-look-shining-at-new-styles-of/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in-some-state-of-passion-love/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-telling-them-they-are-not-bores/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [If age, which is certainly Just as wicked as youth, look any wiser, It is only that youth is still able to believe It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/if-age-which-is-certainly-just-as-wicked-as-youth-look-any-wiser-it/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [“Those to whom evil is done, do evil in return”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/those-to-whom-evil-is-done-do-evil-in-return/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/i-and-the-public-know-what-all-schoolchildren-learn-those-to-whom/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/one-cannot-walk-through-an-assembly-factory-and-not-feel-that-one-is/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [How happy the lot of the mathematician. He is judged solely by his peers, and the standard is so high that no colleague or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/how-happy-the-lot-of-the-mathematician-he-is-judged-solely-by-his/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/perhaps-there-is-only-one-cardinal-sin-impatience-because-of/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [The windiest militant trash Important Persons shout Is not so crude as our wish: What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/the-windiest-militant-trash-important-persons-shout-is-not-so-crude/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave Proves the child ephemeral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/time-and-fevers-burn-away-individual-beauty-from-thoughtful-children/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

> [To hunt for symbols in a fairy tale is absolutely fatal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/to-hunt-for-symbols-in-a-fairy-tale-is-absolutely-fatal/)

[W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/#itemlist",
            "name": "3 Bores Quotes By W. H. Auden",
            "numberOfItems": 3,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "W. H. Auden"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-telling-them-they-are-not-bores/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/w-h-auden-856_bores_men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-te_66295.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/w-h-auden-856_bores_men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-te_66295.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/w-h-auden-856_bores_men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-te_66295.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.” — W. H. Auden",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "If music in general is an imitation of history, opera in particular is an imitation of human willfulness; it is rooted in the fact that we not only have feelings but insist upon having them at whatever cost to ourselves. The quality common to all the great operatic roles, e.g., Don Giovanni, Norma, Lucia, Tristan, Isolde, Br?nnhilde, is that each of them is a passionate and willful state of being. In real life they would all be bores, even Don Giovanni.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "W. H. Auden"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/if-music-in-general-is-an-imitation-of-history-opera-in-particular-is/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/728/w-h-auden-856_bores_if-music-in-general-is-an-imitation-of-h_2163058.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/728/w-h-auden-856_bores_if-music-in-general-is-an-imitation-of-h_2163058.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/728/w-h-auden-856_bores_if-music-in-general-is-an-imitation-of-h_2163058.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“If music in general is an imitation of history, opera in particular is an imitation of human willfulness; it…” — W. H. Auden",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office everyday. Not because he likes it but because he can't think of anything else to do.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "W. H. Auden"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/a-tremendous-number-of-people-in-america-work-very-hard-at-something/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/341/w-h-auden-856_america_a-tremendous-number-of-people-in-america_2458399.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/341/w-h-auden-856_america_a-tremendous-number-of-people-in-america_2458399.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/341/w-h-auden-856_america_a-tremendous-number-of-people-in-america_2458399.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks…” — W. H. Auden",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/",
            "name": "Bores Quotes by W. H. Auden",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/w-h-auden-856_bores_men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-te_66295.png"
            },
            "description": "3 Bores quotes by W. H. Auden. Plus more from W. H. Auden and more Bores sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Bores",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "W. H. Auden",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bores/w-h-auden/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```