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 history
Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be. W. H. Auden on life
I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street. W. H. Auden on love
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. W. H. Auden on love
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. W. H. Auden on love
Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate. W. H. Auden on marriage
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 money
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 money
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 money
No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. W. H. Auden on music
Music is the best means we have of digesting time. W. H. Auden on music
Music can be made anywhere, is invisible and does not smell. W. H. Auden on music
A verbal art like poetry is reflective it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become. W. H. Auden on music
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.' W. H. Auden on nature
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. W. H. Auden on poetry
A verbal art like poetry is reflective it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become. W. H. Auden on poetry
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 poetry
Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy of one. W. H. Auden on poetry
Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods. W. H. Auden on relationship
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 sad