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Marriage is rarely bliss But, surely it would be worse As particles to pelt At thousands of miles per sec About a universe In which a lover's kiss Would either not be felt Or break the loved one's neck.

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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Literary Critic
Literary Historian
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Jórvík
Wystan Hugh Auden
Wystan Auden
Wystan H Auden
W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden
Break
Thousands
Particles
Universe
Miles
Neck
Felt
Kissing
Necks
Would
Lovers
Lover
Worse
Bliss
Marriage
Surely
Loved
Rarely
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Pelt

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A person incapable of imaging another world than given to him by his senses would be subhuman, and a person who identifies his imaginary world with the world of sensory fact has become insane.
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To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith
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We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.
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Say this city has ten million souls, Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes: Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.
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Our claim to our own bodies and our world is our catastrophe.
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A small grove massacred to the last ash, An oak with heart-rot, give away the show: This great society is going to smash They cannot fool us with how fast they go, How much they cost each other and the gods. A culture is no better than its woods.
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Intellectual disgrace Stares from every human face, And the seas of pity lie Locked and frozen in each eye.
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The definition of prayer is paying careful and concentrated attention to something other than your own constructions.
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Shall memory restore The steps and the shore, The face and the meeting place.
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We are all here on earth to help others what on earth the others are here for I don't know.
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Aphorisms are essentially an aristocratic genre of writing. The aphorist does not argue or explain, he asserts and implicit in his assertion is a conviction that he is wiser and more intelligent than his readers.
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Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame.
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I will love you forever swears the poet. I find this easy to swear too. I will love you at 4:15 pm next Tuesday - Is that still as easy?
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Long ago the accusations had begun, And suddenly knew by whom it had been judged
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No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted.
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Who on earth invented the silly convention that it is boring or impolite to talk shop? Nothing is more interesting to listen to, especially if the shop is not one's own.
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Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.
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A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting he must also believe it to be true.
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A vice in common can be the ground of a friendship but not a virtue in common. X and Y may be friends because they are both drunkards or womanizers but, if they are both sober and chaste, they are friends for some other reason.
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August for the people and their favourite islands. Daily the steamers sidle up to meet The effusive welcome of the pier.
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