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

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.

We must love one another or die.

We must love one another or die.

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...

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...

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

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...

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...

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

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...

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.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

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.

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.

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...

What people don't realize is that intimacy has its conventions as well as ordinary social...

What people don't realize is that intimacy has its conventions as well as ordinary social...

Let mortals beware of words For with words we lie Can speak peace When we...

Let mortals beware of words For with words we lie Can speak peace When we...

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...

If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons...

If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons...

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

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

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.