Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: Writers 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Now is the age of anxiety.

Now is the age of anxiety.

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.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

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...

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

Let us honor if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the...

Let us honor if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the...

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...

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...

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.

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

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.

No hero is immortal till he dies

No hero is immortal till he dies

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...

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...

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

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