Important Quote by W. H. Auden

“The most important truths are likely to be those which society at that time least wants to hear.”

W. H. Auden

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More by W. H. Auden

Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible.

W. H. Auden

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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…

W. H. Auden

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The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience.

W. H. Auden

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Harrow the house of the dead; look shining at New styles of architecture, a change of heart.

W. H. Auden

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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…

W. H. Auden

Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.

W. H. Auden

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If age, which is certainly Just as wicked as youth, look any wiser, It is only that youth is still able to believe It…

W. H. Auden

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“Those to whom evil is done, do evil in return”

W. H. Auden

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I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.

W. H. Auden

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One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.

W. H. Auden

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How happy the lot of the mathematician. He is judged solely by his peers, and the standard is so high that no colleague or…

W. H. Auden

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Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.

W. H. Auden

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Explore all 344 W. H. Auden quotes

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Fiscal prudence is very important.

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Regardless of the criticisms I receive from the left, the right and the middle, I think it's important to maintain a prolific writing jab,…

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In some circles where very heavy people think they have very heavy brains, words like "charming" and "clever" and "pretty" are all put-downs; all…

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It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.

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The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and activists - as starting revolutions - does not exist in most people's minds. And I think it's very, very important that folks understand how much this country was founded on the enslavement of blacks, and how…

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