English - Poet | February 21, 1907 - September 29, 1973
Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods.
W. H. Auden
RelationshipRunRelationshipsBegin
When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a room full of dukes.
ScienceMyselfMistakeFeelFind
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.
AimAuthenticityNeverAlwaysBother
Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do.
WantSameBecauseMustMostMortals
If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons and take his gun away.
TimeGunHorseRidingOperaPay
A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.
ProfessionalPoetObjectsVerbal
May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God has to have faith in us and, considering the history of the human race so far, may it not be that 'faith' is even more difficult for Him than it is for us?
GodFaithHistoryRaceDifficult
Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness; it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest.
ForgivenessSocietyUniqueParty
Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say.
HealthMedicineSayNothingState
A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a bomb.
ManWriteDragonPoetPushingBomb
A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become.
MusicArtPoetryThinkBecomeLike
It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.
SadArtCultureMoneyWritingMore
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