Quote

To me Art's subject is the human clay, / And landscape but a background to a torso / All Cezanne's apples I would give away / For one small Goya or a Daumier.

W. H. Auden

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W. H. Auden
Age: 66 †
Born: 1907
Born: February 21
Died: 1973
Died: September 28
Author
Composer
Essayist
Librettist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Playwright
Poet
Screenwriter
University Teacher
Writer
Jórvík
Wystan Hugh Auden
Wystan Auden
Wystan H Auden
W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden
Small
Torso
Away
Clay
Art
Apples
Give
Background
Human
Backgrounds
Humans
Landscape
Giving
Subject
Goya
Would
Subjects
Cezanne

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All I have is a voice.
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The slogan of Hell: Eat or be eaten. The slogan of Heaven: Eat and be eaten.
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The most important truths are likely to be those which society at that time least wants to hear.
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Dance till the stars come down from the rafters Dance, Dance, Dance 'till you drop.
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God is Love, we are taught as children to believe. But when we first begin to get some inkling of how He loves us, we are repelled it seems so cold, indeed, not love at all as we understand the word.
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All poets adore explosions, thunderstorms, tornadoes, conflagrations, ruins, scenes of spectacular carnage. The poetic imagination is not at all a desirable quality in a statesman.
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We do not change as we grow up. The difference between the child and the adult is that the former doesn't know who he is and the latter does.
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Dogmatic theological statements are neither logical propositions nor poetic utterances. They are ''shaggy dog'' stories they have a point, but he who tries too hard to get it will miss it.
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The surest sign that a man has a genuine taste of his own is that he is uncertain of it.
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In addition to English, at least one ancient language, probably Greek or Hebrew, and two modern languages would be required.
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The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.
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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 only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.
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You know there are no secrets in America. It's quite different in England, where people think of a secret as a shared relation between two people.
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Fate succumbs many a species: one alone jeopardises itself.
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Now the leaves are falling fast, Nurse's flowers will not last Nurses to their graves are gone, And the prams go rolling on.
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The stars are dead. The animals will not look: We are left alone with our day, and the time is short, and History to the defeated May say Alas but cannot help nor pardon.
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I don't get acting jobs because of my looks.
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