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

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

We are not commanded (or forbidden) to love our mates, our children, our friends, our...

We are not commanded (or forbidden) to love our mates, our children, our friends, our...

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.

Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.

Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say

Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say

If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.

If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.

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...

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.

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it...

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it...

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his...

Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his...

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...

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...

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...

We all have these places where shy humiliations gambol on sunny afternoons.

We all have these places where shy humiliations gambol on sunny afternoons.

We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here...

We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here...