--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who…" description: "\"As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust.\" — W. H. Auden" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png" --- # As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust. ![“As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust.” quote by W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png) > “As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust.” [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Those who reject pleasure often become harsh, as denial fuels resentment. **In simple terms:** Rejecting joy can breed injustice. Key Takeaway Balance pleasure with responsibility. Themes justice pleasure human nature morality Mood thoughtful analytical Type literary ethical When to use this quote - personal relationships - social policy - mental health - creative work Key Concepts Psychological reactance ethical balance Questions to Reflect On - What pleasures do you deny? - How might that shape your actions? A Different Perspective Not all pleasure‑seekers are unjust; context matters. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Haters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/haters/) [Healing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/healing/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) ## Related quotes > [No judge can stop us from praying for our country and I pray that on May 6, millions of Americans will join me in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-graham/no-judge-can-stop-us-from-praying-for-our-country-and-i-pray-that-on/) [Franklin Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-graham/) > [We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men. But witness how men with motives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-byrd/we-unlike-nazi-germany-or-mussolini-s-italy-have-never-stopped-being/) [Robert Byrd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-byrd/) > [Justice in the extreme is often unjust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-racine/justice-in-the-extreme-is-often-unjust/) [Jean Racine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-racine/) > [Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/commercial-shackles-are-generally-unjust-oppressive-and-impolitic/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [Because one doesn't like the way things are is no reason to be unjust towards God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/because-one-doesn-t-like-the-way-things-are-is-no-reason-to-be-unjust/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The unhappy are egoistic, spiteful, unjust, cruel, and less capable of understanding each other than fools. Unhappiness does not bring people together but draws…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/the-unhappy-are-egoistic-spiteful-unjust-cruel-and-less-capable-of/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [Trade has suddenly become massively unpopular. I think that's massively unjust. I think free trade has been wonderful for America on balance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/trade-has-suddenly-become-massively-unpopular-i-think-that-s/) [David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/) > [Those who deny the right of a jury to protect an individual in resisting an unjust law of the government, deny him all defence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysander-spooner/those-who-deny-the-right-of-a-jury-to-protect-an-individual-in/) [Lysander Spooner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysander-spooner/) > [I care so deeply about this matter that I'm willing to take on the legal penalties, to sit in this prison cell, to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-care-so-deeply-about-this-matter-that-i-m-willing-to-take-on-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The pictures that were coming from Vietnam were showing us what was really happening on the ground level. It was in contradiction to what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nachtwey/the-pictures-that-were-coming-from-vietnam-were-showing-us-what-was/) [James Nachtwey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nachtwey/) > [No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/no-matter-how-corrupt-and-unjust-a-convict-may-be-he-loves-fairness/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [... professing myself moreover convinced that the general's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/professing-myself-moreover-convinced-that-the-general-s-unjust/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Rather than being incensed by the nature of the bruise, maybe we should be inspired by the possibilities in the bruise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/rather-than-being-incensed-by-the-nature-of-the-bruise-maybe-we/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [The rules and principles of case law have never been treated as final truths but as working hypotheses, continually retested in those great laboratories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-n-cardozo/the-rules-and-principles-of-case-law-have-never-been-treated-as-final/) [Benjamin N. Cardozo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-n-cardozo/) > [People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/people-don-t-have-fortunes-left-them-in-that-style-nowadays-men-have/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) ## 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/) [Explore all 344 W. H. Auden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) ## More Haters quotes > [Don't judge me because I'm stupid. Don't judge me because I'm, mean. Don't judge me because I'm weird. Don't judge me for mistakes. Because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-harden-me/don-t-judge-me-because-i-m-stupid-don-t-judge-me-because-i-m-mean-don/) Isaiah Harden (Me > [I love mi haters they make me famous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chabrina/i-love-mi-haters-they-make-me-famous/) Chabrina > [Good morning haters, Im here again to let you kiss my ass. :P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shennon-fabiano/good-morning-haters-im-here-again-to-let-you-kiss-my-ass-p/) [Shennon Fabiano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shennon-fabiano/) > [Be curious not judge mental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unknow/be-curious-not-judge-mental/) Unknow > [Apply for a real job hatin on me hourly gets you no pay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/awk-taylor/apply-for-a-real-job-hatin-on-me-hourly-gets-you-no-pay/) Awk Taylor > [~Haters only Hate things they cant have and the people they cant be. its just a little thing called Jealousy~](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/im-nothing/haters-only-hate-things-they-cant-have-and-the-people-they-cant-be/) Im Nothing > [Try not to confuse having haters with people actually hating you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/try-not-to-confuse-having-haters-with-people-actually-hating-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Haters feed themselves when you down but when they see you happy they starving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/haters-feed-themselves-when-you-down-but-when-they-see-you-happy-they/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [SHOUT OUT TO MY HATERS SRRY THAT U COULDNT PHASE ME](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicki-minaj/shout-out-to-my-haters-srry-that-u-couldnt-phase-me/) [NICKI MINAJ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicki-minaj/) > [Some people fail to realize that there will always be those immature people who like to see you down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaylon-hillsman/some-people-fail-to-realize-that-there-will-always-be-those-immature/) [Jaylon Hillsman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaylon-hillsman/) > [I love haters cuz theyshow me they love me more than my family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-love-haters-cuz-theyshow-me-they-love-me-more-than-my-family/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-ferriss/the-best-way-to-counter-attack-a-hater-is-to-make-it-blatantly/) [Tim Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-ferriss/) > [Let the haters hate and focus on people who care.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-the-haters-hate-and-focus-on-people-who-care/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't give any reason for anyone to hate me, they create their own little drama out of pure jealousy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhat/i-don-t-give-any-reason-for-anyone-to-hate-me-they-create-their-own/) [Zhat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhat/) > [“HATERS BACK OFF!!!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-sings/haters-back-off/) Miranda Sings [Browse all 2,540 Haters quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/haters/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. H. Auden" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who-became-unjust/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Haters" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who-became-unjust/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/w-h-auden-856_haters_as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who_1695282.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust.” — W. H. Auden", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "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": "W. H. Auden", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As a rule, it was the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who-became-unjust/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/as-a-rule-it-was-the-pleasure-haters-who-became-unjust/#breadcrumb" }, { "@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 } } ] } ```