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

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

Healing, Papa would tell me, is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing...

Healing, Papa would tell me, is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing...

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

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

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...

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.

My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

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....

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...

God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich.

God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich.

To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he...

To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he...

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...

You know there are no secrets in America. It's quite different in England, where people...

You know there are no secrets in America. It's quite different in England, where people...

A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man...

A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man...

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...

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,...

Music can be made anywhere, is invisible and does not smell.

Music can be made anywhere, is invisible and does not smell.

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...

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...