H. Auden
H. Auden
photography art skills
It's a pity I am so impatient and careless, as any ordinary person could learn all the techniques of photography in a week. It is the democratic art, i.e. technical skill is practically eliminated - the more foolproof cameras become with focusing and exposure gadgets the better - and artistic quality depends only on choice of subject.
afterlife water landscape
If it form the one landscape that we the inconstant ones Are consistently homesick for, this is chiefly Because it dissolves in water.
mad acting actors
Human beings are, necessarily, actors who...can be divided...into the sane who know they are acting and the mad who do not.
august islands people
August for the people and their favourite islands. Daily the steamers sidle up to meet The effusive welcome of the pier.
responsibility machines bills
There are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair, Irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem From insignificance.
long-ago judgment accusation
Long ago the accusations had begun, And suddenly knew by whom it had been judged
guilt wealth drink
A poor American feels guilty at being poor, but less guilty than an American rentier who has inherited wealth but is doing nothingto increase it; what can the latter do but take to drink and psychoanalysis?
laughter justice sorrow
The camera may do justice to laughter, but must degrade sorrow.
cities honor sorrow
We honor founders of these starving cities, Whose honor is the image of our sorrow.
latin years greek
At first critics classified authors as Ancients, that is to say, Greek and Latin authors, and Moderns, that is to say, every post-Classical Author. Then they classified them by eras, the Augustans, the Victorians, etc., and now they classify them by decades, the writers of the '30's, '40's, etc. Very soon, it seems, they will be labeling authors, like automobiles, by the year.
discovery wish important
One of the most horrible, yet most important, discoveries of our age has been that, if you really wish to destroy a person and turn him into an automaton, the surest method is not physical torture, in the strict sense, but simply to keep him awake, i.e., in an existential relation to life without intermission.
zero winning games
In a game, just losing is almost as satisfying as just winning... In life the loser's score is always zero.
sorrow gold mountain
There was still gold and silver in the mountains, And hunger was a more immediate sorrow
our-world body claims
Our claim to our own bodies and our world is our catastrophe.