The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.

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.

You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at.

You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at.

Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession.

Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession.

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...

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...

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.

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 center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.

The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.

We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here...

We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here...

Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so...

Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so...

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.

All that we are not stares back at what we are.

All that we are not stares back at what we are.

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

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

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they...

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they...

Men make the mistake of thinking that because women can't see the sense in violence,...

Men make the mistake of thinking that because women can't see the sense in violence,...

In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of...

In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of...

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

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

I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-Second Street Uncertain and afraid As the...

I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-Second Street Uncertain and afraid As the...

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing...

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing...

To be angry is to revenge the faults of others upon ourselves

To be angry is to revenge the faults of others upon ourselves