50 Best W. H. Auden Quotes From The Author Of 'Funeral Blues'

Anglo-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden influenced the poetry of the 20th century a great deal.

'Funeral Blues' is arguably the most famous poem by WH Auden. Some of the other examples of acclaimed works by this great poet are 'The Shield Of Achilles' and 'The Age Of Anxiety'.

Auden was born in 1907 in York, England. He was known for his exceptional intellect and depth of thought. His first book, 'Poems', was published with the help of T. S. Eliot, another legendary poet, in 1930 when Auden was just 23. This work exposed him to wide public attention.

W. H. Auden wrote poems on a variety of themes including  politics, morals, love and religion. In 1948, he won the Pulitzer Prize for 'The Age Of Anxiety. In his career, he collaborated with Chester Kallman, Christopher Isherwood, and Louis MacNeice. His poems became even more widely understood and appreciated after his death in 1973 than when he was alive. That stands true for many highly talented and creative people who could see far ahead of their times.

Now you know a little about his work, check out these quotes by W. H. Auden, including WH Auden quotes about dragons, insightful WH Auden quotes, poems by WH Auden that have provided us with great quotes, and more.

If you like these W H Auden quotes, you can also check out these TS Eliot quotes and Keats quotes.

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Here are some W H Auden quotes on various subjects that can always make your day.

1. "A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep."

- W. H. Auden.

2. "Now is the age of anxiety."

- W. H. Auden.

3. "Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table."

- W. H. Auden.

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

- W. H. Auden.

5. "All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation."

- W. H. Auden.

6. “All we are not stares back at what we are.”

- W. H. Auden.

7. "Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic."

- W. H. Auden.

8. “Whatever you do, good or bad, people will always have something negative to say.”

- W. H. Auden.

9. “In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.”

- W. H. Auden.

10. "History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology."

- W. H. Auden.

11. "The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition."

- W. H. Auden.

12. "Between friends, differences in taste or opinion are irritating in direct proportion to their triviality."

- W. H. Auden.

13. "A man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be."

- W. H. Auden.

14. "A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten."

- W. H. Auden.

15. "A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime."

- W. H. Auden.

16. "No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called games."

- W. H. Auden.

Check out the Auden quotes that throw unique light on love and compassion. In WH Auden poems, love was a frequent theme.

17. "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."

- W. H. Auden.

18. "I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street."

- W. H. Auden.

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

- W. H. Auden.

20. "We must love one another or die."

- W. H. Auden.

21. "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."

- W. H. Auden.

22. “'I will love you forever' swears the poet. I find this easy to swear too. 'I will love you at 4:15 pm next Tuesday' - Is that still as easy?”

- W. H. Auden.

23. “The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me.”

- W. H. Auden.

24. “You shall love your crooked neighbor, with your crooked heart.”

- W. H. Auden.

W. H. Auden quotes remind us that he was undoubtedly a poet who can never be forgotten. Check them out here.

25. "We're all stars to disappear or die."

- W. H. Auden.

26. “We would rather be ruined than changed

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.”

- W. H. Auden.

27. "Those to whom evil is done

Do evil in return."

- W. H. Auden.

28. “Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh

There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye.”

- W. H. Auden.

29. "Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return."

- W. H. Auden.

30. "Admirer as I think I am

Of stars that do not give a damn,

I cannot, now I see them, say

I missed one terribly all day."

- W. H. Auden.

31. "The unmentionable odor of death

Offends the September night."

- W. H. Auden.

This is one of the best works by the great poet, in the opinion of many.

32. "I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong."

- W. H. Auden.

33. "Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good."

- W. H. Auden.

34. "Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead."

- W. H. Auden.

35. "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come."

- W. H. Auden.

36. "Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves."

- W. H. Auden.

37. “He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song."

- W. H. Auden.

Listed below are some W. H. Auden quotes that will enlighten our minds and intellect with a long-lasting effect.

38. "A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us."

- W. H. Auden.

39. "For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives in the valley of its making where executives would never want to tamper."

- W. H. Auden.

40. “A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.”

- W. H. Auden.

41. “Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.”

- W. H. Auden.

42. “Music is immediate, it goes on to become.”

- W. H. Auden.

43. “The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.”

- W. H. Auden.

44. “Thank God for books as an alternative to conversation.”

- W. H. Auden.

45. “There must always be two kinds of art: escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable-art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred and learn love.”

- W. H. Auden.

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

- W. H. Auden.

47. "In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the double standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them."

- W. H. Auden.

48. “Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.”

- W. H. Auden.

49. "A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think."

- W. H. Auden.

50. "A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a bomb."

- W. H. Auden.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for W. H. Auden quotes then why not take a look at these Alfred Lord Tennyson quotes and Henry David Thoreau quotes too?

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