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The chances are that, in the course of his lifetime, the major poet will write more bad poems than the minor, simply because major poets write a lot.
W. H. Auden
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W. H. Auden
Age: 66 †
Born: 1907
Born: February 21
Died: 1973
Died: September 28
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Wystan Hugh Auden
Wystan Auden
Wystan H Auden
W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden
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More quotes by W. H. Auden
The eye likes novelty, but the ear craves familiarity.
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The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.
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It's a pity I am so impatient and careless, as any ordinary person could learn all the techniques of photography in a week. It is the democratic art, i.e. technical skill is practically eliminated - the more foolproof cameras become with focusing and exposure gadgets the better - and artistic quality depends only on choice of subject.
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Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession.
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I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.
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To hunt for symbols in a fairy tale is absolutely fatal.
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In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them.
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And none will hear the postman’s knock Without a quickening of the heart. For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
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I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade
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Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.
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In headaches and in worry Vaguely life leaks away, And Time will have his fancy To-morrow or today.
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The Ogre does what ogres can, Deeds quite impossible for Man, But one prize is beyond his reach, The Ogre cannot master Speech: About a subjugated plain, Among its desperate and slain, The Ogre stalks with hands on hips, While drivel gushes from his lips.
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Civilizations should be measured by the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained.
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Weep for the lives your wishes never led.
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We all have these places where shy humiliations gambol on sunny afternoons.
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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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About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters.
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Man is a history-making creature, who can neither repeat his past, nor leave it behind.
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History marched to the drums of a clear idea...
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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
W. H. Auden