W. H. Auden Quotes

The poet who writes 'free' verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry and darning for himself. In a few exceptional cases, this manly independence produces something original and impressive, but more often the result is squalor - dirty sheets on the unmade bed and empty bottles on the unswept floor.

W. H. Auden

• Free
• Cooking
• Dirty
• Desert

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• Why does it appear that interested readers so often attribute flaws to 'the press' rather than taking particular issue with particular reports?

  

  Barton Gellman
  • Why
  • Often
  • Flaws

• Ever since I can remember I was telling stories and had a huge interest in other people and what made them tick.

  

  Candace Bushnell
  • People
  • Remember
  • I Can

• I think it's always easy to be sympathetic to parts of the government in detail; in their concrete manifestations. Because obviously, we don't have government for no reason.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Think
  • Government
  • Easy

• I lost 'The X Factor,' and I lost 'Deal or No Deal' twice. I'm good at losing game shows.

  

  Olly Murs
  • Good
  • Game
  • Lost

• If people who cherish freedom, who know the importance of mutual respect and are aware of the imperative necessity to establish a constructive and critical debate, if these people are not ready to speak out, to be more committed and visible, then we can expect sad, painful tomorrows. The choice is ours.

  

  Tariq Ramadan
  • People
  • Freedom
  • Respect

• Here in Indiana and in many states throughout the union, we rely on coal to power our homes and provide good-paying middle class jobs - like the one my family relied on when I was a kid. The coal mine helped put food on our table and helped me pursue an education and realize the American Dream.

  

  Larry Bucshon
  • Good
  • Family
  • Power

• We have magnificent brains, but we use a great deal of our brilliance to keep ourselves stuck and ignorant, to keep ourselves from not shining. We are so afraid of our beauty and radiance and brilliance because it scared the adults around us when we were children.

  

  Patricia Sun
  • Great
  • Children
  • Beauty

• I think the audience keeps it fresh for me. You just never know – every audience has its own personality.

  

  Vicki Lawrence
  • Think
  • Know
  • Personality

• Only through loving and supporting one another, even in the face of unbearable pain and suffering, will this cycle of violence end.

  

  Mandy Patinkin
  • Pain
  • Violence
  • Suffering

• We're on the verge of a financial collapse unless we balance the budget, and that means some really, really tough decisions.

  

  Gary Johnson
  • Balance
  • Financial
  • Decisions

• If your access to health care involves your leaving work and driving somewhere and parking and waiting for a long time, that's not going to promote healthiness.

  

  Larry Page
  • Time
  • Work
  • Long

• I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf.

  

  Ian Mckellen
  • Like
  • Famous
  • Two

• You can almost taste the pressure now.

  

  Vin Scully
  • You
  • Pressure
  • Now

• If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.

  

  Dalai Lama
  • Good
  • Faith
  • Religion

• The Lord discovered to me a sense of my unbelief that, though late, I should remember my transgressions and that I should be converted with my whole heart to the Lord my God.

  

  Saint Patrick
  • God
  • Heart
  • Remember

• Saudi had been a very restricted place. Even on the magazines there, if there was a little leg or cleavage showing, they used to blacken it with a black mark. Me and Ishmeet, so many times, had tried to remove the black portion with our spit, but of course, it would never come out.

  

  Karan Singh Grover
  • Never
  • Mark
  • Restricted

• Men! The only animal in the world to fear.

  

  D. H. Lawrence
  • World
  • Men
  • Fear

• Creativity is an inherent human quality of the highest order. When we create, we become more than the sum of our parts.

  

  Yiannis Chryssomallis
  • Quality
  • Human
  • Creativity

• I believe in giving more than 100% on the field, and I don't really worry about the result if there's great commitment on the field. That's victory for me.

  

  Mahendra Singh Dhoni
  • Great
  • Believe
  • Giving

• All good art, to me, is uncertainty.

  

  Dave Davies The Kinks
  • Good
  • Art

• As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Cæsar, 'Remember,' said he, 'Cæsar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself.'

  

  Plutarch
  • Remember
  • Angry

• I think just in general there's a bunch of films that mattered to me that didn't reach their potential, and on some level you have to assume responsibility for that. And I think over the years that gets difficult.

  

  Kiefer Sutherland
  • Responsibility
  • Films
  • Potential

• Computers absolutely changed my life. Before I had a computer, I had never written one thing. Not one thing. I'm a very bad speller and I was embarrassed by that. When I would type, the little mistakes would make me nutty, and I would never edit anything.

  

  Penn Jillette
  • Life
  • Bad

• The poet who writes 'free' verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry and darning for himself. In a few exceptional cases, this manly independence produces something original and impressive, but more often the result is squalor - dirty sheets on the unmade bed and empty bottles on the unswept floor.

  

  W. H. Auden
  • Free
  • Cooking
  • Dirty