A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons...

If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons...

Let us honor if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the...

Let us honor if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the...

In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of...

In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of...

The belief that politics can be scientific must inevitably produce tyrannies. Politics cannot be a...

The belief that politics can be scientific must inevitably produce tyrannies. Politics cannot be a...

Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of...

Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of...

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.

A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.

The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.

The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.

Sob, heavy world Sob as you spin, Mantled in mist Remote from the happy.

Sob, heavy world Sob as you spin, Mantled in mist Remote from the happy.

Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet...

Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet...

You know there are no secrets in America. It's quite different in England, where people...

You know there are no secrets in America. It's quite different in England, where people...

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.

My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.

Now is the age of anxiety.

Now is the age of anxiety.

Men make the mistake of thinking that because women can't see the sense in violence,...

Men make the mistake of thinking that because women can't see the sense in violence,...

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God...

May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God...

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man...

A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man...

A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them....

A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them....