H. Auden
H. Auden
answers world tests
Thou shalt not answer questionnaires Or quizzes upon world affairs, Nor with compliance Take any test. Thou shalt not sit with statisticians nor commit A social science.
self feelings doubt
The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident.
memories faces steps
Shall memory restore The steps and the shore, The face and the meeting place;
artist results craftsman
A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.
dream moon blue
But once in a while the odd thing happens Once in a while the dream comes true And the whole pattern of life is altered Once in a while, the moon turns blue
science wish alive
Oh, how I wish that Orwell were still alive, so that I could read his comments on contemporary events!
sorry intelligent men
To the man-in-the-street, who, I'm sorry to say, is a keen observer of life. The word Intellectual suggests straight away. A man who's untrue to his wife.
men pay bores
Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.
cancer men fire
Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
love fuel excellent
Money cannot buy the fuel of love but is excellent kindling.
character thinking personality
One of the troubles of our times is that we are all, I think, precocious as personalities and backward as characters.
promise
Words are for those with promises to keep.
pride hands people
The actors today really need the whip hand. They're so lazy. They haven't got the sense of pride in their profession that the less socially elevated musical comedy and music hall people or acrobats have. The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.
healing unjust pleasure
As a rule, it was the pleasure-haters who became unjust.