Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition. W. H. Auden More Quotes by W. H. Auden More Quotes From W. H. Auden Into this neutral air Where blind skyscrapers use Their full height to proclaim The strength of Collective Man, Each language pours its vain Competitive excuse. W. H. Auden height air men 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 media political art Time will say nothing but I told you so, Time only knows the price we have to pay; If I could tell you I would let you know. W. H. Auden told-you-so knows pay A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become. W. H. Auden music art thinking There must always be two kinds of art: escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable-art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred and learn love. W. H. Auden sleep men art All good art is in the nature of a letter written to amuse a sick friend. Too much art, particularly in our time, is only a letter written to oneself. W. H. Auden sick letters art Drama is based on the Mistake. I think someone is my friend when he really is my enemy, that I am free to marry a woman when in fact she is my mother, that this person is a chambermaid when it is a young nobleman in disguise, that this well-dressed young man is rich when he is really a penniless adventurer, or that if I do this such and such a result will follow when in fact it results in something very different. All good drama has two movements, first the making of the mistake, then the discovery that it was a mistake. W. H. Auden mother mistake drama Most people enjoy the sight of their own handwriting as they enjoy the smell of their own farts. W. H. Auden smell sight people Sincerity is technique. W. H. Auden sincerity crafts technique The most exciting rhythms seem unexpected and complex, the most beautiful melodies simple and inevitable. W. H. Auden music simple beautiful Dance till the stars come down from the rafters W. H. Auden dance stars inspirational To discover how to be human now is the reason we follow this star. W. H. Auden stars humans reason God may reduce you on Judgment Day to tears of shame, reciting by heart the poems you would have written, had your life been good. W. H. Auden tears heart may As a poet, there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language from corruption. W. H. Auden corruption political language The truly tragic kind of suffering is the kind produced and defiantly insisted upon by the hero himself so that, instead of making him better, it makes him worse and when he dies he is not reconciled to the law but defiant, that is, damned. Lear is not a tragic hero, Othello is. W. H. Auden suffering hero law Recipe for the upbringing of a poet: 'As much neurosis as the child can bear. W. H. Auden neurosis recipes children It's better to say, 'I'm suffering,' than to say, 'This landscape is ugly. W. H. Auden ugly criticism suffering No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. W. H. Auden music funny people There has been a vast output of critical studies in contemporary poetry, some of them first rate, but I do not think that , as a rule, a poet should read them. W. H. Auden study firsts thinking 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. W. H. Auden drawing mistake science
