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

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

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...

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...

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.

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.

It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too...

It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too...

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

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...

It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to...

It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to...

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...

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.

We must love one another or die.

We must love one another or die.

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....

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more...

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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,...

The age of our fathers, which was worse than that of our ancestors, produced us,...

The age of our fathers, which was worse than that of our ancestors, produced us,...

Every time I see something terrible, it's like I see it at age 19. I...

Every time I see something terrible, it's like I see it at age 19. I...

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What...

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What...