In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: Reading Quotes, Writers Quotes

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 commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession

Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession

When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who...

When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who...

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.

Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho...

Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho...

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...

When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate...

When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate...

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...

Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own...

Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own...

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...

No hero is mortal till he dies.

No hero is mortal till he dies.

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...

Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences...

Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences...

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

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

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as...

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as...

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...

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...

No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most...

No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most...

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more...

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more...