All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-Second Street Uncertain and afraid As the...

I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-Second Street Uncertain and afraid As the...

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...

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

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

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

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

No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are...

No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are...

You must go to bed with friends or whores, where money makes up the difference...

You must go to bed with friends or whores, where money makes up the difference...

History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology...

History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology...

I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river...

I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river...

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

When the Sex War ended with the slaughter of the Grandmothers, / They found a...

When the Sex War ended with the slaughter of the Grandmothers, / They found a...

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...

Now is the age of anxiety.

Now is the age of anxiety.

Drama is based on the Mistake. I think someone is my friend when he really...

Drama is based on the Mistake. I think someone is my friend when he really...

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

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

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...

Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.

Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

No hero is mortal till he dies.

No hero is mortal till he dies.

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

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

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