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A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

W. H. Auden

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W. H. Auden
Age: 66 †
Born: 1907
Born: February 21
Died: 1973
Died: September 28
Author
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Essayist
Librettist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
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Poet
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University Teacher
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Jórvík
Wystan Hugh Auden
Wystan Auden
Wystan H Auden
W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden
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Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible.
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Precisely because we do not communicate by singing, a song can be out of place but not out of character it is just as credible that a stupid person should sing beautifully as that a clever person should do so.
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America has always been a country of amateurs where the professional, that is to say, the man who claims authority as a member of an élite which knows the law in some field or other, is an object of distrust and resentment.
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The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience.
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the child unlucky in his little State, Some hearth where freedom is excluded, A hive whose honey is fear and worry, Feels calmer now and somehow assured of escape
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A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.
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Great art is clear thinking about mixed feelings.
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The condition of mankind is, and always has been, so miserable and depraved that, if anyone were to say to the poet: For God's sake stop singing and do something useful like putting on the kettle or fetching bandages, what just reason could he give for refusing?
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Out on the lawn I lie in bed, Vega conspicuous overhead.
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But once in a while the odd thing happens Once in a while the dream comes true And the whole pattern of life is altered Once in a while, the moon turns blue
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To be free is often to be lonely.
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Every poet has his dream reader: mine keeps a look out for curious prosodic fauna like bacchics and choriambs.
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Words are for those with promises to keep.
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I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen.
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History marched to the drums of a clear idea...
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No being can make another one happy.
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Every high C accurately struck demolishes the theory that we are the irresponsible puppets of fate or chance.
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The actors today really need the whip hand. They're so lazy. They haven't got the sense of pride in their profession that the less socially elevated musical comedy and music hall people or acrobats have. The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.
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Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
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Though one cannot always Remember exactly why one has been happy, There is no forgetting that one was.
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