451 Quotes by W.H. Auden

Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful, but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading.

I write because I love to play with language.

God may reduce you on Judgment Day to tears of shame, reciting by heart the poems you would have written, had your life been good.

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

Those who will not reason, perish in the act. Those who will not act, perish for that reason.

Cathedrals, luxury liners laden with souls, Holding to the east their hulls of stone.

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.

The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.

O plunge your hands in water, Plunge them in up to the wrist; Stare, stare in the basin And wonder what you’ve missed.