W. H. Auden Quotes

W. H. Auden — English Poet born on February 21, 1907, died on September 29, 1973

Wystan Hugh Auden was an Anglo-American poet, best known for love poems such as "Funeral Blues," poems on political and social themes such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles," poems on cultural and psychological themes such as The Age of Anxiety, and poems on religious themes such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae." He was born in York, grew up in and near Birmingham in a professional middle-class family. He attended English independent schools and studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. After a few months in Berlin in 1928–29 he spent five years teaching in English public schools, then travelled to Iceland and China in order to write books about his journeys. In 1939 he moved to the United States and became an American citizen in 1946. He taught from 1941 through 1945 in American universities, followed by occasional visiting professorships in the 1950s. From 1947 through 1957 he wintered in New York and summered in Ischia; from 1958 until the end of his life he wintered in New York and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria... (wikipedia)

If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.

Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be.

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.