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Whatever the field under discussion, those who engage in debate must not only believe in each other's good faith, but also in their capacity to arrive at the truth.

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
Whatever
Faith
Arrive
Truth
Engage
Also
Discussion
Must
Debate
Believe
Field
Good
Capacity
Fields

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All I have is a voice.
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Acts of injustice done Between the setting and the rising sun In history lie like bones, each one.
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Dance, dance, dance till you drop.
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The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief: We must suffer them all again.
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I know nothing, except what everyone knows - if there when Grace dances, I should dance.
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To read is to translate, for no two persons' experiences are the same. A bad reader is like a bad translator: he interprets literally when he ought to paraphrase and paraphrases when he ought to interpret literally.
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Water is the soul of the Earth.
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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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A god who is both self-sufficient and content to remain so could not interest us enough to raise the question of his existence.
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We were put on this earth to make things.
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The element of craftsmanship in poetry is obscured by the fact that all men are taught to speak and most to read and write, while very few men are taught to draw or paint or write music.
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Fate succumbs many a species: one alone jeopardises itself.
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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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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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The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience.
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In a game, just losing is almost as satisfying as just winning... In life the loser's score is always zero.
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What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.
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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.
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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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In addition to English, at least one ancient language, probably Greek or Hebrew, and two modern languages would be required.
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