“We are all on earth to help others. What on earth the others are here for, I can't imagine.”

— W. H. Auden

Often cited as by Auden without attribution, this quotation has been traced to John Foster Hall (1867-1945), an English comedian known as the Reverend Vivian Foster, Vicar of Mirth. Full history with sound recording http://audensociety.org/vivianfoster.html <br class="br">Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We are all on earth to help others. What on earth the others are here for, I can't imagine." by W. H. Auden?

W. H. Auden photo

W. H. Auden122

Anglo-American poet 1907–1973

Related quotes

“We are here on earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I do not know.”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

Source: Essays In Criticism By Matthew Arnold

“Imagine gazing at Earth or other space views.”

Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American writer, poet, inventor, actress, voice artist (1958-2014)

Vanna Bonta Talks Sex in Space (Interview - Femail magazine)

“Think about the strangeness of today's situation. Thirty, forty years ago, we were still debating about what the future will be: communist, fascist, capitalist, whatever. Today, nobody even debates these issues. We all silently accept global capitalism is here to stay. On the other hand, we are obsessed with cosmic catastrophes: the whole life on earth disintegrating, because of some virus, because of an asteroid hitting the earth, and so on. So the paradox is, that it's much easier to imagine the end of all life on earth than a much more modest radical change in capitalism.”

Slavoj Žižek (1949) Slovene philosopher

Žižek! (2005); as Žižek notes on p. 1 of Mapping Ideology (1994), the observation that it is easier to imagine the end of the earth than the end of capitalism was originally made by Fredric Jameson.

“We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

“The Service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

“It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than we care for the earth.
This last statement becomes obvious enough when it is considered that the earth is what we all have in common, that it is what we are made of and what we live from, and that we therefore cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it. But I believe it goes farther and deeper than that. There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the earth. Between our relation to our own sexuality and our relation to the reproductivity of the earth, for instance, the resemblance is plain and strong. By some connection we do not recognize, the willingness to exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

The Unsettling of America (1977), Chapter Seven : The Body and the Earth

“Noble be man,
Helpful and good!
For that alone
Sets hims apart
From every other creature
On earth.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Das Göttliche

Das Göttliche (The Divine) (1783)

“"And when we die,
All’s over that is ours; and life burns on
Through other lovers, other lips," said I
—"Heart of my heart, our heaven is now, is won!"
"We are earth’s best, that learnt her lesson here,
Life is our cry. We have kept the faith!" we said.”

Rupert Brooke (1887–1915) British poet

"The Hill" (1910)

“We humans who art on Earth, humanity is special, our kingdom has come. Do what we innately know to be right, on Earth because that's all there is. Share the bread we have, try not to screw up. When others screw up, understand. We can't have everything that tempts us (Unless we work in international finance). Deliver ourselves from evil because this is it. The Earth, the power to do right, and the glory that will come if we do is ours, now and forever. Hu-man.”

Marcus Brigstocke (1973) comedian

The Now Show

“But shouldn't all of us on earth give the best we have to others and offer whatever is in our power?”

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet

Source: Fairy Tales

Related topics