--- title: "3 Etc Quotes By W. H. Auden" description: "3 Etc quotes by W. H. Auden. Plus more from W. H. Auden and more Etc sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/w-h-auden-856_amused_most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in_60472.jpg" --- > [Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/w-h-auden-856_amused_most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in_60472.jpg) > [Rhymes, meters, stanza forms, etc., are like servants. If the master is fair enough to win their affection and firm enough to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/rhymes-meters-stanza-forms-etc-are-like-servants-if-the-master-is/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/w-h-auden-856_affection_rhymes-meters-stanza-forms-etc-are-like_1297596.png) > [At first critics classified authors as Ancients, that is to say, Greek and Latin authors, and Moderns, that is to say, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/at-first-critics-classified-authors-as-ancients-that-is-to-say-greek/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/w-h-auden-856_automobile_at-first-critics-classified-authors-as-a_2016359.jpg) ## Other authors on Etc ## 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/etc/w-h-auden/#itemlist", "name": "3 Etc Quotes By W. H. Auden", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as it should be. But no man is perpetually in a passion and those states in which he is amused and amusing, detached and irreverent, if less important, are no less amusing. If there were no poets who, like Byron, express these states, Poetry would lack something.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. H. Auden" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in-some-state-of-passion-love/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/w-h-auden-856_amused_most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in_60472.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/w-h-auden-856_amused_most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in_60472.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/w-h-auden-856_amused_most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in_60472.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt…” — W. H. Auden", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Rhymes, meters, stanza forms, etc., are like servants. If the master is fair enough to win their affection and firm enough to command their respect, the result is an orderly happy household. If he is too tyrannical, they give notice; if he lacks authority, they become slovenly, impertinent, drunk and dishonest.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. H. Auden" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/rhymes-meters-stanza-forms-etc-are-like-servants-if-the-master-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/w-h-auden-856_affection_rhymes-meters-stanza-forms-etc-are-like_1297596.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/w-h-auden-856_affection_rhymes-meters-stanza-forms-etc-are-like_1297596.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/w-h-auden-856_affection_rhymes-meters-stanza-forms-etc-are-like_1297596.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Rhymes, meters, stanza forms, etc., are like servants. If the master is fair enough to win their affection…” — W. H. Auden", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "At first critics classified authors as Ancients, that is to say, Greek and Latin authors, and Moderns, that is to say, every post-Classical Author. Then they classified them by eras, the Augustans, the Victorians, etc., and now they classify them by decades, the writers of the '30's, '40's, etc. Very soon, it seems, they will be labeling authors, like automobiles, by the year.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. H. Auden" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/at-first-critics-classified-authors-as-ancients-that-is-to-say-greek/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/w-h-auden-856_automobile_at-first-critics-classified-authors-as-a_2016359.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/w-h-auden-856_automobile_at-first-critics-classified-authors-as-a_2016359.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/994/w-h-auden-856_automobile_at-first-critics-classified-authors-as-a_2016359.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At first critics classified authors as Ancients, that is to say, Greek and Latin authors, and Moderns, that…” — W. H. Auden", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/w-h-auden/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/w-h-auden/", "name": "Etc Quotes by W. H. Auden", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/w-h-auden/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/019/w-h-auden-856_amused_most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in_60472.jpg" }, "description": "3 Etc quotes by W. H. Auden. Plus more from W. H. Auden and more Etc sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/w-h-auden/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/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": "Etc", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "W. H. Auden", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/etc/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 } } ] } ```