Let us honor if we can the vertical man, though we value none but the horizontal one W. H. Auden More Quotes by W. H. Auden More Quotes From W. H. Auden Swans in the winter air W. H. Auden swansairwinter Life is a picnic on a precipice. W. H. Auden precipicepicnicslife-is The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident. W. H. Auden selfdoubtfeelings I sit in one of the dives W. H. Auden hopefearclever What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves. W. H. Auden poetreadersaid 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 historypeoplefirsts The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of their own. W. H. Auden facesanimalchildren Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession. W. H. Auden murdercookingfood Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self. W. H. Auden selfcharactertwo One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell. W. H. Auden assemblyfactorieshell It has been said that a poem should not mean but be. This is not quite accurate. In a poem, as distinct from many other kinds of verbal societies, meaning and being are identical. A poem might be called a pseudo-person. Like a person, it is unique and addresses the reader personally. On the other hand, like a natural being and unlike a historical person, it cannot lie. W. H. Auden uniquemeanlying False enchantment can last a lifetime. W. H. Auden We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know. W. H. Auden Accurate scholarship can unearth the whole offence from luther untill noe that has driven a culture mad. From what occured at linz what huge imago made a psychopathic god. i and the public know what all schoolchildren learn those to whom evil is done do evil in return. W. H. Auden Acts of injustice done Between the setting and the rising sun In history lie like bones, each one. W. H. Auden I cannot accept the doctrine that in poetry there is a suspension of belief. A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true. W. H. Auden No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. W. H. Auden Poetry makes nothing happen. It survives in the valley of its saying. W. H. Auden 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. W. H. Auden
