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
Cathedrals, luxury liners laden with souls, Holding to the east their hulls of stone. — W. H. Auden Cathedrals Copy Share Image
Long ago the accusations had begun, And suddenly knew by whom it had been judged — W. H. Auden Accusation 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
One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell. — W. H. Auden 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
To have a sense of sin means to feel guilty at there being an ethical choice to make, a guilt which, however… — W. H. Auden Choices Copy Share Image
The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience. — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Alone, alone, about the dreadful wood / Of conscious evil runs a lost mankind, / Dreading to find its Father. — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
The relation of faith between subject and object is unique in every case. Hundreds may believe, but each has to believe by… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Ideally, government is the means by which all the individual wills are assured complete freedom of moral choice and at the same… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Drama began as the act of a whole community. Ideally, there would be no speculators. In practice, every member of the audience… — W. H. Auden Audience Copy Share Image
Blessed be all metrical rules that forbid automatic responses, force us to have second thoughts, free us from the fetters of Self. — W. H. Auden Blessed Copy Share Image
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 Books 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
The truly tragic kind of suffering is the kind produced and defiantly insisted upon by the hero himself so that, instead of… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at… — W. H. Auden Books Copy Share Image
A poor American feels guilty at being poor, but less guilty than an American rentier who has inherited wealth but is doing… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very… — W. H. Auden Creativity Copy Share Image
Young people, who are still uncertain of their identity, often try on a succession of masks in the hope of finding the… — W. H. Auden Facts Copy Share Image
Left to itself the masculine imagination has very little appreciation for the here and now; it prefers to dwell on what is… — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
But he would have us most of all remember to be enthusiastic over the night. Not only for the sense of wonder… — W. H. Auden 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
To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself... — W. H. Auden Attention Copy Share Image
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. — W. H. Auden Language Copy Share Image
The camera may do justice to laughter, but must degrade sorrow. — W. H. Auden Cameras Copy Share Image
Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession. — W. H. Auden Copy Share Image
Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered. — W. H. Auden Book Copy Share Image
The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief: We must suffer them all again. — W. H. Auden Grief Copy Share Image
The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen. — W. H. Auden Acting Copy Share Image
