W. H. Auden: Trending quotes (page 4)

“Cold, impossible, ahead
Lifts the mountain's lovely head
Whose white waterfall could bless
Travellers in their last distress.”

W. H. Auden

First published in book form in Look, Stranger! (1936; US title On this Island)
Source: Autumn Song (1936), Lines 17–20

Love , Travel , Mountain

“Politics cannot be a science, because in politics theory and practice cannot be separated, and the sciences depend upon their separation.”

W. H. Auden

"Tyranny”
A Certain World: A Commonplace Book (1970)

Science , Dependency

“In a national capital Mirabeau and his set
Attacked mystery; the packed galleries roared
And history marched to the drums of a clear idea,
The aim of the Rational City, quick to admire,
Quick to tire.”

W. H. Auden

Memorial for the City (1947)

History , Idea

“A god who is both self-sufficient and content to remain so could not interest us enough to raise the question of his existence.”

W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords

"The Greeks and Us", p. 15
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)

God , Question

“For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.”

W. H. Auden September 1, 1939

Source: September 1, 1939 (1939), Lines 62–66

Love , Error , Universe

“In the course of many centuries a few laborsaving devices have been introduced into the mental kitchen — alcohol, coffee, tobacco, Benzedrine, etc. — but these are very crude, constantly breaking down, and liable to injure the cook. Literary composition in the twentieth century A. D. is pretty much what it was in the twentieth century B. C.: nearly everything has still to be done by hand.”

W. H. Auden book The Dyer's Hand

"Writing", p. 17
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)

Alcohol , Coffee , Cooking

“Normally, when one passes someone on the street who is in pain, one either tries to help him, or one simply looks the other way. With a photo there's no human decision; you're not there; you can't turn away; you simply gape. It's a form of voyeurism.”

W. H. Auden

Source: Paris Review interview (1972), p. 247

Pain , Way , Photo , Decision

“Lay your sleeping head, my love
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral;
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie:
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.”

W. H. Auden

Lay your sleeping head, my love (1937), lines 1–2, written January 1937; also known as Lullaby.

Love , Children , Lie , Beauty

“When one looks into the window of a store which sells devotional art objects, one can't help wishing the iconoclasts had won.”

W. H. Auden book The Dyer's Hand

"Postscript: Christianity & Art", p. 461
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)

Art , Help

“The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident.”

W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords

"The Protestant Mystics", p. 51
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)

Feeling , Intelligence

“A ragged urchin, aimless and alone,
Loitered about that vacancy: a bird
Flew up to safety from his well-aimed stone:
That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third,
Were axioms to him, who'd never heard
Of any world where promises were kept
Or one could weep because another wept.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

World , Girl , Boy , Bird

“They never forgot
That even the most dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.”

W. H. Auden Musée des Beaux Arts

Musée des Beaux Arts (1938)

Life , Dogs , Tree , Horse

“In all technologically "advanced" countries, fashion has replaced tradition, so that involuntary membership in a society can no longer provide a feeling of community.”

W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords

"Lame Shadows", p. 410
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)

Feeling , Communication , Fashion , Country

“The law cannot forgive, for the law has not been wronged, only broken; only persons can be wronged. The law can pardon, but it can only pardon what it has the power to punish.”

W. H. Auden book The Dyer's Hand

"The Prince's Dog", p. 201
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)

Law , Forgiveness , Personality

“When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.”

W. H. Auden

Epitaph on a Tyrant (1939), lines 5–6

Children , Laughter

“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.”

W. H. Auden September 1, 1939

Source: September 1, 1939 (1939), Lines 89–99

World , Light , Despair , Night

“Most people call something profound, not because it is near some important truth but because it is distant from ordinary life. Thus, darkness is profound to the eye, silence to the ear; what-is-not is the profundity of what-is.”

W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords

"Un Homme d'Esprit", p. 361
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)

Life , People , Truth , Silence

“Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another; they might also ask themselves how much poetry of any period they can honestly say that they understand.”

W. H. Auden book The Dyer's Hand

The Dyer's Hand (1955), in the BBC weekly The Listener (30 June 1955)

People , Understanding

“A crowd of ordinary decent folk
Watched from without and neither moved nor spoke
As three pale figures were led forth and bound
To three posts driven upright in the ground.”

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse.”

W. H. Auden September 1, 1939

Source: September 1, 1939 (1939), Lines 34–39