Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate. W. H. Auden Marriage
It's 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. W. H. Auden Sad
In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of us is a unique person, with a unique perspective on the world, a member of a class of one. W. H. Auden Faith
We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know. W. H. Auden Funny
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. W. H. Auden Forgiveness
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.' W. H. Auden Nature
No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. W. H. Auden Music