It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

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...

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...

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

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.

We must love one another or die.

We must love one another or die.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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

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

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...

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...

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

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

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

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

May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God...

May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God...

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.

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

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

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

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.

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...