The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of their own.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

When the Sex War ended with the slaughter of the Grandmothers, / They found a...

When the Sex War ended with the slaughter of the Grandmothers, / They found a...

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.

Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho...

Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho...

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

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

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

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.

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

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

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...

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

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

Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to...

Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to...

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as...

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as...

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...

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.

Art is born of humiliation.

Art is born of humiliation.

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.

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...