Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: Experience Quotes, Poetry Quotes

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....

Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot...

Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot...

You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at.

You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at.

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...

Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has...

Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has...

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.

The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.

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...

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be...

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be...

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

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

It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to...

It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to...

Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual...

Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual...

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

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

Between friends differences in taste or opinion are irritating in direct proportion to their triviality.

Between friends differences in taste or opinion are irritating in direct proportion to their triviality.

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

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

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

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

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

Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is...

Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is...

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...

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.