Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so contemptible as the public that buys their books.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: Books Quotes

The belief that politics can be scientific must inevitably produce tyrannies. Politics cannot be a...

The belief that politics can be scientific must inevitably produce tyrannies. Politics cannot be a...

All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.

All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.

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...

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...

A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.

A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.

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...

I don't get acting jobs because of my looks.

I don't get acting jobs because of my looks.

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among...

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among...

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.

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

I know nothing, except what everyone knows if there when Graces dances, I should dance.

I know nothing, except what everyone knows if there when Graces dances, I should dance.

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....

Art is born of humiliation.

Art is born of humiliation.

I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river...

I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river...

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...

Now is the age of anxiety.

Now is the age of anxiety.

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.

Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar...

Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar...

Even bad books are books and therefore sacred.

Even bad books are books and therefore sacred.

If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and...

If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and...