The class distinctions proper to a democratic society are not those of rank or money, still less, as is apt to happen when these are abandoned, of race, but of age. W. H. Auden on age
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.' W. H. Auden on art
It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it. W. H. Auden on art
What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish. W. H. Auden on art
A verbal art like poetry is reflective it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become. W. H. Auden on art
It's a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it. W. H. Auden on art
Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead. W. H. Auden on art
All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him. W. H. Auden on art
Music is the best means we have of digesting time. W. H. Auden on best
The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living. W. H. Auden on death
Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic. W. H. Auden on death
Learn from your dreams what you lack. W. H. Auden on dreams
Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another. W. H. Auden on experience
May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God has to have faith in us and, considering the history of the human race so far, may it not be that 'faith' is even more difficult for Him than it is for us? W. H. Auden on faith
What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish. W. H. Auden on food
Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest. W. H. Auden on forgiveness
Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say. W. H. Auden on health
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology. W. H. Auden on history