457 Quotes by W. H. Auden

Oh, how I wish that Orwell were still alive, so that I could read his comments on contemporary events!

I don't think the mystical experience can be verbalized. When the ego disappears, so does power over language.

To choose what is difficult all one's days, as if it were easy, that is faith

Out on the lawn I lie in bed, Vega conspicuous overhead.

To the man-in-the-street, who, I'm sorry to say, is a keen observer of life. The word Intellectual suggests straight away. A man who's untrue to his wife.

I used to try and concentrate the poem so much that there wasn't a word that wasn't essential. This leads to becoming boring and constipated.

Encased in talent like a uniform, The rank of every poet is well known; They can amaze us like a thunderstorm, Or die so young, or live for years alone.

Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.

I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky.