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Quote by Thom Gunn

“I was much influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre.”

Quote by Thom Gunn

Author

Thom Gunn was an influential British poet known for his concise and direct style. His poetry often explored the relationship between the individual and society, reflecting on modern life. Gunn's work was celebrated in the mid-20th century, and his poems have been widely translated and read. more

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“It was difficult being a teacher and out of the closet in the '50s. By the time I retired, the English department was proud of having a gay poet of a certain minor fame. It was a very satisfactory change!”

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Author:Thom Gunn

“Many of my poems are not sexual.”

Author:Thom Gunn

“My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.”

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Author:Thom Gunn

“We tend to put poems into factions. And it restricts our reading.”

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“The slow-witted approach to the HIV epidemic was the result of a thousand years of Christian malpractice and the childlike approach of the church to sexuality. If any single man was responsible, it was Augustine of Hippo who murdered his way to sainthood spouting on about the sins located in his genitals.”

Source: At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament

“One of the joys our technological civilization has lost is the excitement with which seasonal flowers and fruits were welcomed; the first daffodil, strawberry or cherry are now things of the past, along with their precious moment of arrival. Even the tangerine -- now a satsuma or clementine -- appears de-pipped months before Christmas.”

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Author:Derek Jarman

“I wouldn't wish the eighties on anyone, it was the time when all that was rotten bubbled to the surface. If you were not at the receiving end of this mayhem you could be unaware of it. It was possible to live through the decade preoccupied by the mortgage and the pence you saved on your income tax. It was also possible for those of us who saw what was happening to turn our eyes in a different direction; but what, in another decade, had been a trip to the clap clinic was now a trip to the mortuary.”

Source: At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament

“I think being gay and gay people are the most wonderful things in the world. I wish all of us could have the power and pride to benefit from what is rightfully ours. Why isn't there an enormous building in Washington called the 'National Association of Lesbian and Gay Concerns' to lobby for us?”

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“AIDS was allowed to happen. It is a plague that need not have happened. It is a plague that could have been contained from the very beginning.”

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“I don't consider myself an artist. I consider myself a very opinionated man who uses words as fighting tools.”

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Book:Reports from the Holocaust: The Story of an AIDS Activist

Source: Reports from the Holocaust: The Story of an AIDS Activist