H. Auden
H. Auden
practice justice politics
The belief that politics can be scientific must inevitably produce tyrannies. Politics cannot be a science, because in politics theory and practice cannot be separated, and the sciences depend upon their separation. Empirical politics must be kept in bounds by democratic institutions, which leave it up to the subjects of the experiment to say whether it shall be tried, and to stop it if they dislike it, because, in politics, there is a distinction, unknown to science, between Truth and Justice.
pay attention praying
To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself...
beauty differences desire
You must go to bed with friends or whores, where money makes up the difference in beauty or desire.
lying earth guests
Earth, receive an honored guest; William Yeats is laid to rest. Let the Irish vessel lie Emptied of its poetry.
country tree soul
The trees encountered on a country stroll Reveal a lot about that country's soul ... A culture is no better than its woods.
funny-life helping-others earth
We are all here on earth to help others.
past men history
Man is a history-making creature, who can neither repeat his past, nor leave it behind.
parades ends novel
There are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: Parade's End is one of them.
firsts innocence remember
Few can remember clearly when innocence came to a sudden end, the moment at which we ask for the first time: Am I loved?
time conquer deceiving
O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conquer Time.
believe long size
Lovers have lived so long with giants and elves, they won't believe again in their own size.
art science technology
Without art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without science, we should always worship false gods.
ideas catholic religion
The only reason the Protestants and Catholics have given up the idea of universal domination is because they've realised they can't get away with it.
poetry adjectives
Adjectives are the potbelly of poetry.