--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And had everything necessary to the…" description: "\"“And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c5/w-h-auden-2-7412_modern-man_and-had-everything-necessary-to-the-mode_1409330.jpg" --- # And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A… ![“And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he held the proper opinions for the time of year; When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went” quote by W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c5/w-h-auden-2-7412_modern-man_and-had-everything-necessary-to-the-mode_1409330.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c5/w-h-auden-2-7412_modern-man_and-had-everything-necessary-to-the-mode_1409330.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c5/w-h-auden-2-7412_modern-man_and-had-everything-necessary-to-the-mode_1409330.jpg) > ““And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he held the proper opinions for the time of year; When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went”” [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The modern individual is surrounded by comforts yet measured only by conformity to prevailing opinions, shifting with peace or war. **In simple terms:** Modern comforts mask conformity to changing public opinion. Key Takeaway Recognize and question shifting opinions. Themes conformity public opinion modernity Mood reflective critical Type philosophical social commentary When to use this quote - consumer culture - political discourse - personal identity Key Concepts social critique media influence Questions to Reflect On - How do you assess your own opinions? - What influences your stance during conflict? A Different Perspective Comfort can blind critical thinking. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Man Phonograph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-phonograph-4961518/) [Modern man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-man/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Phonograph Radio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/phonograph-radio-4961519/) [Public opinion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/public-opinion/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [War Went](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-went-985558/) [Year Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/year-peace-809116/) ## Related quotes > [“The Unknown Citizen by W. H. Auden (To JS/07 M 378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State) He was found by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/the-unknown-citizen-by-w-h-auden-to-js-07-m-378-this-marble-monument/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [I hope that France - and all of Europe - we would take an initiative for the year 2012 to be the year of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-sarkozy/i-hope-that-france-and-all-of-europe-we-would-take-an-initiative-for/) [Nicolas Sarkozy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-sarkozy/) > [I wish you another year of peace, joy, and happiness. Happy New Year.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-wish-you-another-year-of-peace-joy-and-happiness-happy-new-year/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let us celebrate the New Year, another year we are all together. May you find peace, health and happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-us-celebrate-the-new-year-another-year-we-are-all-together-may/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“In his particular line of business, peace had reigned for nearly a year. And peace was killing him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-fleming/in-his-particular-line-of-business-peace-had-reigned-for-nearly-a/) [Ian Fleming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-fleming/) > [“particular line of business, peace had reigned for nearly a year. And peace was killing him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-fleming/particular-line-of-business-peace-had-reigned-for-nearly-a-year-and/) [Ian Fleming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-fleming/) > [At New Year and always, may peace and love fill your heart, beauty fill your world, and contentment and joy fill your days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-new-year-and-always-may-peace-and-love-fill-your-heart-beauty-fill/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“deuces to the old year,peace to the bullshit and hello to change”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikkisha-fevrier/deuces-to-the-old-year-peace-to-the-bullshit-and-hello-to-change/) [Nikkisha Fevrier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikkisha-fevrier/) > [“For every year of peace there have been four hundred years of war.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/for-every-year-of-peace-there-have-been-four-hundred-years-of-war/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [May God be with me! May Heaven bless this New Year. May it be a year of fruitfulness, of peace and prosperity; may it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-meyerbeer/may-god-be-with-me-may-heaven-bless-this-new-year-may-it-be-a-year-of/) [Giacomo Meyerbeer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-meyerbeer/) > [I am not sure that you, the younger generations, will like to go to war that we went through. So, we learn as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibrahim-babangida/i-am-not-sure-that-you-the-younger-generations-will-like-to-go-to-war/) [Ibrahim Babangida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibrahim-babangida/) > [The Cold War went on for so long that it bred a kind of worldwide military establishment. Even when budgets went down in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-d-kaplan/the-cold-war-went-on-for-so-long-that-it-bred-a-kind-of-worldwide/) [Robert D. Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-d-kaplan/) > [Celebrate...the tradition of giving, the beauty of the season and a New Year of peace and happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/celebrate-the-tradition-of-giving-the-beauty-of-the-season-and-a-new/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Every time I have gone to war..I went in as if I was already dead..in order to come out of it alive!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jg/every-time-i-have-gone-to-war-i-went-in-as-if-i-was-already-dead-in/) [JG](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jg/) > [Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and a new year of peace and happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/wishing-you-a-beautiful-holiday-season-and-a-new-year-of-peace-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by W.H. Auden > [“Part came from Lane, and part from D.H. Lawrence; Gide, though I didn't know it then, gave part. They taught me to express my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/part-came-from-lane-and-part-from-d-h-lawrence-gide-though-i-didn-t/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“As his wife, Emilia must know Iago better than anybody else. She does not know, any more than the others, that he is malevolent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/as-his-wife-emilia-must-know-iago-better-than-anybody-else-she-does/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“A child's reading is guided by pleasure, but his pleasure is undifferentiated; he cannot distinguish, for example, between aesthetic pleasure and the pleasures of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/a-child-s-reading-is-guided-by-pleasure-but-his-pleasure-is/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“No poet or novelist wishes he was the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/no-poet-or-novelist-wishes-he-was-the-only-one-who-ever-lived-but/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Human "nature" is a nature continually in quest of itself, obliged at every moment to transcend what it was a moment before.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/human-nature-is-a-nature-continually-in-quest-of-itself-obliged-at/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Cassio is a ladies’ man, that is to say, a man who feels most at home in feminine company where his looks and good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/cassio-is-a-ladies-man-that-is-to-say-a-man-who-feels-most-at-home-in/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm; Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/lay-your-sleeping-head-my-love-human-on-my-faithless-arm-time-and/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“In any first-class work of art, you can find passages that in themselves are extremely boring, but try to cut them out, as they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/in-any-first-class-work-of-art-you-can-find-passages-that-in/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Healing is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/healing-is-not-a-science-but-the-intuitive-art-of-wooing-nature/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“For a desert island, one would choose a good dictionary rather than the greatest literary masterpiece imaginable, for, in relation to its readers, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/for-a-desert-island-one-would-choose-a-good-dictionary-rather-than/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Sorry, my dear, one mustn't be bohemian!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/sorry-my-dear-one-mustn-t-be-bohemian/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Our hunting fathers told the story Of the sadness of the creatures, Pitied the limits and the lack Set in their finished features; Saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/our-hunting-fathers-told-the-story-of-the-sadness-of-the-creatures/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“After Portia has trapped Shylock through his own insistence upon the letter of the law of Contract, she produces another law by which any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/after-portia-has-trapped-shylock-through-his-own-insistence-upon-the/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“Iago’s treatment of Othello conforms to Bacon’s definition of scientific enquiry as putting Nature to the Question. If a member of the audience were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/iago-s-treatment-of-othello-conforms-to-bacon-s-definition-of/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“But round your image there is no fog, and the Earth can still astonish.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/but-round-your-image-there-is-no-fog-and-the-earth-can-still-astonish/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) [Explore all 89 W.H. Auden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) ## More Modern man quotes > [A 'modern' man has nothing to add to modernism, if only because he has nothing to oppose it with. The well-adapted drop off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-canetti/a-modern-man-has-nothing-to-add-to-modernism-if-only-because-he-has/) [Elias Canetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-canetti/) > [“The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones. Nevertheless (I offer my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/the-mass-of-men-have-been-forced-to-be-gay-about-the-little-things/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“Modern man’s misfortune lies not in having to live a mediocre life, but in believing that he could live one that is not mediocre.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/modern-man-s-misfortune-lies-not-in-having-to-live-a-mediocre-life/) [Nicolás Gómez Dávila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [I am actually a perfectly capable modern man who can cook, clean, wash, and find my way to places, but nobody believes it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-may/i-am-actually-a-perfectly-capable-modern-man-who-can-cook-clean-wash/) [James May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-may/) > [“Rather than humanizing technology, modern man prefers to technify man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/rather-than-humanizing-technology-modern-man-prefers-to-technify-man/) [Nicolás Gómez Dávila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [Modern man is too impatient and wants to master the art of meditation immediately.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rama-swami/modern-man-is-too-impatient-and-wants-to-master-the-art-of-meditation/) [Rama Swami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rama-swami/) > [Modern man, seeking a middle position in the evaluation of sense impression and thought, can, following Plato , interpret the process of understanding nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-pauli/modern-man-seeking-a-middle-position-in-the-evaluation-of-sense/) [Wolfgang Pauli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-pauli/) > [Modern man is educated to understand foreign languages and misunderstand foreigners.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/modern-man-is-educated-to-understand-foreign-languages-and/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes in earlier civilizations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/by-his-very-success-in-inventing-labor-saving-devices-modern-man-has/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Mythologies were the earliest dreams of mankind, and in the psychotic delusions of his patients, Jung believed he was encountering those dreams again. Freud,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-valentine/mythologies-were-the-earliest-dreams-of-mankind-and-in-the-psychotic/) [Gary Valentine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-valentine/) > [“Modern man has too many masks to wear. We must unmask and be ourselves, sincerely, earnestly and live truly as we are,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gyomay-m-kubose/modern-man-has-too-many-masks-to-wear-we-must-unmask-and-be-ourselves/) [Gyomay M. Kubose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gyomay-m-kubose/) > [I'm carrying the weight of all the useless junk and modern man accumulates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-joel/i-m-carrying-the-weight-of-all-the-useless-junk-and-modern-man/) [Billy Joel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-joel/) > [The future of mankind seems to be a religious one, and religion can be a way for the modern man or the man of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sorin-cerin/the-future-of-mankind-seems-to-be-a-religious-one-and-religion-can-be/) [Sorin Cerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sorin-cerin/) > [“Modern man, brought up on Kantian idealism, regards nature as being no more than an outcome of the laws of the mind. Losing all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etienne-gilson/modern-man-brought-up-on-kantian-idealism-regards-nature-as-being-no/) [Étienne Gilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etienne-gilson/) > [“Enslavement to God signifies liberation from all other forms of servitude, and although modern man may think that he is liberated, he is in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-w-flood/enslavement-to-god-signifies-liberation-from-all-other-forms-of/) [Donald W. Flood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-w-flood/) [Browse all 342 Modern man quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-man/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. 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