Quotations From W.H. (WYSTAN HUGH) AUDEN

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• 11.

  Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. "Hic et Ille," pt. 3, sect. b, The Dyer's Hand (1962).
• 12.

  For poetry makes nothing happen:

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet, essayist. In Memory of W. B. Yeats (l. 36). . . Juvenilia; Poems, 1922-1928 [W. H. Auden]. Katherine Bucknell, ed. (1994) Princeton University Press.
  
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• 13.

  The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. "31 December, 1947," The Table Talk of W.H. Auden, compiled by Alan Ansen, ed. Nicholas Jenkins (1990).
  
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• 14.

  Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a journalist.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. "The American Scene," pt. 6, The Dyer's Hand (1962).
  
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• 15.

  A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. "Notes on Music and Opera," pt. 8, The Dyer's Hand (1962).
  
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• 16.

  All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. A Certain World, "Hell," (1970).
• 17.

  No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called Games.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-U.S. poet. "Dingly Dell & The Fleet," pt. 7, The Dyer's Hand (1962).
• 18.

  Dogmatic theological statements are neither logical propositions nor poetic utterances. They are "shaggy dog" stories; they have a point, but he who tries too hard to get it will miss it.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. "God," A Certain World (1970).
  
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• 19.

  History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. "Hic et Ille," pt. 3, sect. B, The Dyer's Hand (1962).
  
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• 20.

  No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fondly believe their wish has been granted.

  W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907-1973), Anglo-American poet. The Dyer's Hand, pt. 1, "Writing," (1962).
  
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