451 Quotes by W.H. Auden

A professor is someone who talks in someone else’s sleep.

What living occasion can, Be just to the absent?

I think the first prerequisite to civilization is an ability to make polite conversation.

It is axiomatic that we should all think of ourselves as being more sensitive than other people because, when we are insensitive in our dealings with others, we cannot be aware of it at the time; conscious insensitivity is a self-contradiction.

What answer to the meaning of existence should one require beyond the right to exercise one’s gifts?

Time will say nothing but I told you so, Time only knows the price we have to pay; If I could tell you I would let you know.

Music can be made anywhere, is invisible and does not smell.

To hunt for symbols in a fairy tale is absolutely fatal.

Every poet has his dream reader: mine keeps a look out for curious prosodic fauna like bacchics and choriambs.