A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.

A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.

No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called...

No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called...

The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have...

The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have...

The word 'Intellectual' suggests straight away - A man who's untrue to his wife

The word 'Intellectual' suggests straight away - A man who's untrue to his wife

I don't get acting jobs because of my looks.

I don't get acting jobs because of my looks.

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are...

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are...

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are...

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are...

All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one...

All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one...

Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.

Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.

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...

Now is the age of anxiety.

Now is the age of anxiety.

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...

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...

He was my North, my South, my East and West.

He was my North, my South, my East and West.

Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so...

Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so...

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...

All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.

All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.

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.

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out...

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out...

Healing, Papa would tell me, is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing...

Healing, Papa would tell me, is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing...