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W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden Quotes

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Famous W. H. Auden Quotes

“Looking up at the stars, I know quite well That, for all they care, I can go to hell, But on earth indifference is the least We have to dread from man or beast. How should we like it were stars to burn With a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me. Admirer as I think I am Of stars that do not give a damn, I cannot, now I see them, say I missed one terribly all day. Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total dark sublime, Though this might take me a little time.”

IfsThinkingKnowsMenGivingFeelsShouldWellsLooksLittlesI CanMightCareEarthDiesPassionStarsDarkHellSkyReturnEqualEmptyAffectionDisappearDamnIndifferenceBeastTake MeDreadSublimeLittle TimeGo To HellAdmirerAll StarsMissed Ones
Author:W. H. Auden
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“In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it: they must not do too much of it: and they must have a sense of success in it - not a doubtful sense, such as needs some testimony of others for its confirmation, but a sure sense, or rather knowledge, that so much work has been done well, and fruitfully done, whatever the world may say or think about it.”

PeopleThinkingWorldNeedsWellsMayHas BeensDoneSuccessOrderThreeWorkToo MuchNeededFitTestimonyThree ThingsDoubtfulConfirmation
Author:W. H. Auden
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“Drama is based on the Mistake. I think someone is my friend when he really is my enemy, that I am free to marry a woman when in fact she is my mother, that this person is a chambermaid when it is a young nobleman in disguise, that this well-dressed young man is rich when he is really a penniless adventurer, or that if I do this such and such a result will follow when in fact it results in something very different. All good drama has two movements, first the making of the mistake, then the discovery that it was a mistake.”

IfsThinkingMenFirstsWellsPersonsTwoDifferentFactsYoungMotherResultsMistakeEnemyRichMovementDramaDiscoveryMy FriendsTheaterTheatreYoung ManDisguiseAdventurerWell DressedNoblemenGood Drama
Author:W. H. Auden
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“The masculine imagination lives in a state of perpetual revolt against the limitations of human life. In theological terms, one might say that all men, left to themselves, become gnostics. They may swagger like peacocks, but in their heart of hearts they all think sex an indignity and wish they could beget themselves on themselves. Hence the aggressive hostility toward women so manifest in most club-car stories.”

ThinkingMenHumansHeartMayStatesStoriesMightLeftWishSexTermImaginationCarClubsLimitationHuman LifeManifestAggressivePerpetualMasculineHostilityRevoltTheologicalBegetsSwaggerIndignityPeacock
Author:W. H. Auden
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