When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.

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.

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

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

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....

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

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

Now is the age of anxiety.

Now is the age of anxiety.

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...

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.

The class distinctions proper to a democratic society are not those of rank or money,...

The class distinctions proper to a democratic society are not those of rank or money,...

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...

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...

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

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...

What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to...

What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended 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.

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...

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...

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.

Art is born of humiliation.

Art is born of humiliation.

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...

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...