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
Civilizations should be measured by the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained.
W.H. Auden
It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to know in what direction to point that organ.
W.H. Auden
The masculine imagination lives in a state of perpetual revolt against the limitations of human life. In theological terms, one might say that all men, left to themselves, become gnostics. They may swagger like peacocks, but in their heart of hearts they all think sex an indignity and wish they could beget themselves on themselves. Hence the aggressive hostility toward women so manifest in most club-car stories.
W.H. Auden
"Healing," Papa would tell me, "is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature."
W.H. Auden