W. H. Auden: Trending quotes

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

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

“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.”

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

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

Memorial for the City (1947)

“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.”

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

W. H. Auden September 1, 1939

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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

W. H. Auden book The Shield of Achilles

The Shield of Achilles (1952)

“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)

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

“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.”

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

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

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

“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.”

Epitaph on a Tyrant (1939), lines 5–6

W. H. Auden September 1, 1939

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

“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.”

“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.”

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