My deepest feeling about politicians is that they are dangerous lunatics to be avoided when possible and carefully humored; people, above all, to whom one must never tell the truth.
W. H. Auden
Related In those whom I like, I can find no common denominator; in those whom I love I can: they all make me... W. H. AUDEN Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I ... W. H. AUDEN I read as much poetry as time allows and circumstance dictates: No heartache can pass without a litt... J. COURTNEY SULLIVAN All I ever did to that apartment was hang fifty yards of yellow theatrical silk across the bedroom w... JOAN DIDION We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab and you had no warning. It... COLSON WHITEHEAD Love is one of the true mysteries,' he said at last. 'The truest and the deepest of all. One thing, ... ALISON CROGGON Some people lie and never tell the truth so won't hurt the person they love.
Some people lie and the... VANDA M Of course great politicians are always liable to be wrong about something, and the more people tell ... FERDINAND MOUNT The kids are feeling better about what they are doing, and are ready for that 'W' on Tuesday. KEITH ALLEN My job is to sell the Daily Express. My job isn't anything else. My job is to produce newspapers tha... PETER HILL With good and gentle-humored hearts
I choose to chat where'er I come
Whate'er the subject be t... JOHN BYROM The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist ... JOHN ORTBERG My feeling is if you're going to be a leader, you have to carefully assess where people are and ... HILLARY CLINTON One of the things about my ministry is that I have never branded myself as being above the people or... T. D. JAKES The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds... DOUGLAS MACARTHUR We are committed to speaking the truth, ... We must continue to tell the truth about the street if t... RUSSELL SIMMONS Never stop listening to people at all levels of the company. Be physically out and about so that you... TRICIA GRIFFITH One must always tell what one sees. Above all, which is more difficult, one must always see what one... CHARLED PÉGUY People ask what are my intentions with my films - my aims. It is a difficult and dangerous question,... INGMAR BERGMAN Historians, I think, should be keepers of truth. We must tell things as they are - honestly, and wit... ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT The bullet that has our name will get us no matter what. Its the bullet with the inscription, "To wh... FAISAL KHOSA The judiciary must not take on the coloration of whatever may be popular at the moment. [W]e are gua... ROSE ELIZABETH BIRD God is another name for human intelligence raised above all error and imperfection, and extended to ... WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING It seems to us that one of the deepest divisions between the Russians and the Americans or British, ... JOHN STEINBECK Be amusing, never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones. BENJAMIN DISRAELI Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided. MAE WEST Cultivate your curves--they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided. MAE WEST The deepest and most sincere feeling I get is when I meet an artist and they have that steel in thei... L.A. REID I avoided writers very carefully because they can perpetuate trouble as no one else can. F. SCOTT FITZGERALD Happiness is possible only when one is busy. The body must toil, the mind must be occupied, and the ... ANONYMOUS People are always trying to [mess] up other people's live's by telling lies about 'em. You wanna rea... BRIAN BUCKNER To do good whenever one can, to love liberty above all else, never to deny the truth, even though ... BEETHOVEN When people don't tell you the truth what they really are saying is they don't value you or their re... SHANNON L. ALDER The biggest lie in the world is that when people tell you that what they really want is for you to t... CARL WHITE Really, lies are so easy to tell when you don't care anymore, or when you have lost all shame. That ... MIA ASHER Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. Th... STANISłAW LEM When I realized I was depressed, then I started reading up about it. When I read that one in four pe... DEEPIKA PADUKONE A delirious person would think there's only one way, and that way is simple, but the truth is no way... JOHN SHELTON JONES People are never too busy to tell you all that they have to do. UNKNOWN Credit cards are powerful tools, but they can be dangerous, so you have to read the instructions car... JANET EISSENSTAT When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must b... SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided. MAE WEST I'm just writing about people. People are dark and complicated. I'm trying to tell the truth... DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE When our lips parted, he sighed. “I love those eyes, angel. When they look at me, I feel like anyt... BIJOU HUNTER If you can be anything, be real. NIKKI ROWE Real intimacy is only possible to the degree that we can be honest about what we are doing and feeli... JOYCE BROTHERS Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it. MARK TWAIN Conscience was the barmaid of the Victorian soul. Recognizing that human beings were fallible and th... C. E. M. JOAD If you tell the truth you get into trouble, and that's why politicians are extremely dull. RACHEL JOHNSON The porcupine, whom one must handle gloved, May be respected, but is never loved. ARTHUR GUITERMAN He used to be, actually a very successful actor. ... One of the things that's encouraging about that... BEN AFFLECK I hate that just because you happen to be good at something,people automatically think that's what m... AMBER SMITH Advertising men and politicians are dangerous if they are separated. Together they are diabolical. PHILLIP ADAMS To tell part of the truth is more dangerous than lying. MINETTE MARIN But tales like this must not be taken as truth. You must remind yourself that it is hard to tell whe... ARLENE J. CHAI All stories have a curious and even dangerous power. They are manifestations of truth -- yours and m... VERA NAZARIAN That one who promised to care my life and to be with in all the way. same one killed me brutally and... MOHAMMED ZAKI ANSARI Politicians always pretend that they are representing the people,but the fact is they are all out to... DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) You will close your eyes. And listen carefully . . . . You must learn to listen carefully when peopl... CéLESTE ALBARET For truth to tell, dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble educ... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE ...because people who talk about their dreams are actually trying to tell you things about themselve... CHUCK KLOSTERMAN My concern with religion is that it allows us by the millions to believe what only lunatics or idiot... SAM HARRIS People are drooling for the truth. They want honesty from politicians, and they're not getting it. KINKY FRIEDMAN Learn to choose your battles carefully. When you exercise discretion, you will realize that most fig... SUSAN C. YOUNG There are two ways to worry words. One is hoping for the greatest possible beauty in what is created... JUNE JORDAN The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the dee... DOUGLAS MACARTHUR ...you look the truth in the face - not the truth that has fangs and fur but the hard truth about yo... ANNE BISHOP The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all ... LEO TOLSTOY I know now: what is is all that matters. Not the thing you know is meant to be, not what could be, n... AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS No one knows what god thinks of anything. He only knows and no one can claim to penetrate into his m... BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA She didn't quite know what the relationship was between lunatics and the moon, but it must be a stro... PAULO COELHO My philosophy is that politicians should be jumped on as often as possible. DAVID LEVINE This is the strange thing about life, when people are confronted, they all say that the truth is wha... LEVIAK B. KELLY I never dream to become someone important for myself. The truth is that I- I really don't have a per... NURUDEEN USHAWU Truth and integrity must be so rare these days that it confuses people when they hear it. DONNA LYNN HOPE If you are going to tell people the truth, be funny or they will kill you. BILLY WILDER But you are alone. Yet I never tell what you are. And if your face lights up my world as no other ca... JOSIAH ROYCE Life at the greatest and best is but a froward child, that must be humored and coaxed a little till ... OLIVER GOLDSMITH Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through yo... GERMANY KENT What is obnoxious about the motives of politicians - whatever those motives may be - is that politic... P. J. O'ROURKE When people speak to you about others, listen carefully, for this is how they will speak about you t... MAICHEE SUMMER When citizens testify before grand juries, they are required to tell the truth. The requirement to t... PATRICK FITZGERALD He comes down next to me, and when I hold out my hand, he takes it. Our fingers lace together. And i... SHAWN KLOMPARENS I'm committed to putting a new system in place because people must know decisions are made that are ... GORDON BROWN Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth, the Tree ... GEORGE GORDON BYRON All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things : That it is better to be alive than dead, ... BERTRAND RUSSELL I am cynical about politicians. My experience of politicians has been thoroughly negative. I have fo... ZAC GOLDSMITH Every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must... HARVEY MILK You must take into account the actual distinction between truth and fact. It is beyond all human pow... ROSE WILDER LANE You must drop all your democracy. You must not believe in the people. One class is no better than an... D. H. (DAVID HERBERT) LAWRENCE Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200 We are not only to renounce evil, but t... J. HUDSON TAYLOR The porcupine, whom one must handle gloved, may be respected, but never loved ARTHUR GUITERMAN When I say they're lunatics, that's what I'm talking about. People that think you should... SHERROD BROWN I never understood why people from the 1980s thought there would be flying cars. It just seemed real... DAN CHAON I tell myself, as sternly as possible, that is how things work here. We do dangerous things and peop... VERONICA ROTH The first presidential election I really paid attention to was in 1988 when George H. W. Bush ran ag... DANA PERINO A good-humored wife who appreciates most, if not all, of my humor - her price is far above rubies, a... ANDREW HUDGINS This is not so much about Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. This is about the fact that the president did... HOWARD DEAN As in all sweetest music, a tinge of sadness was in every note. Nor do we know how much of the pleas... GEORGE MACDONALD Bullies do not just wake up and decide to be one. They are people who have or are experiencing emoti... KEMI SOGUNLE
More W. H. Auden
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AUDEN No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the ... W. H. AUDEN The Americans are violently oral. That's why in America the mother is all-important and the father h... W. H. AUDEN God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich. W. H. AUDEN The actors today really need the whip hand. They're so lazy. They haven't got the sense of pride in ... W. H. AUDEN The critical opinions of a writer should always be taken with a large grain of salt. For the most pa... W. H. AUDEN Criticism should be a casual conversation. W. H. AUDEN All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will... W. H. AUDEN Now is the age of anxiety. W. H. AUDEN The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar, and is shocked by the unexpected: the eye, on the ot... W. H. AUDEN A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. 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AUDEN History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology ... W. H. AUDEN When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into ... W. H. AUDEN He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, ... W. H. AUDEN Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Pa... W. H. AUDEN To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why? W. H. AUDEN No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. W. H. AUDEN False enchantment can last a lifetime. W. H. AUDEN Evil is unspectacular and always human, And shares our bed and eats at our own table. W. H. AUDEN When the Sex War ended with the slaughter of the Grandmothers, / They found a bachelor's baby suffoc... W. H. AUDEN Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores W. H. AUDEN 'Healing,'' Papa would tell me, ''is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.' W. H. AUDEN Embrace me, belly, like a bride. W. H. AUDEN Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession W. H. AUDEN O for doors to be open and an invite with gilded edges / To dine with Lord Lobcock and Count Asthma. W. H. AUDEN I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-Second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of ... W. H. AUDEN It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to know in what direction ... W. H. AUDEN The nightingales are sobbing in / The orchards of our mothers, / And hearts that we broke long ago /... W. H. AUDEN The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very dif... W. H. AUDEN If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons and take his gun away. W. H. AUDEN If there are any of you at the back who do not hear me, please don't raise your hands because I am a... W. H. AUDEN Sob, heavy world Sob as you spin, Mantled in mist Remote from the happy. W. H. AUDEN Look, stranger, at this island now / The leaping light for your delight discovers. W. H. AUDEN Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their conscience... W. H. AUDEN Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in ... W. H. AUDEN Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good W. H. AUDEN lay your faithless head upon my arm W. H. AUDEN Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still, For poetry makes nothing happen W. H. AUDEN I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain ... W. H. AUDEN Hunger allows no choice, To the citizens or the police; We must love one another or die W. H. AUDEN Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator; but among those whom I love, I ... W. H. AUDEN Five minutes on even the nicest mountain / Is awfully long. W. H. AUDEN The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar, and is shocked by the unexpected: the eye, on the oth... W. H. AUDEN 'In headaches and in worry Vaguely life leaks away,And Time will have his fancy To-morrow or to-day. W. H. AUDEN Sob, heavy world Sob as you spin, Mantled in mist Remote from the happy W. H. AUDEN A doctor, like anyone else who has to deal with human beings, each of them unique, cannot be a scien... W. H. AUDEN But in my arms till break of dayLet the living creature lie,Mortal, guilty, but to meThe entirely be... W. H. AUDEN Dogmatic theological statements are neither logical propositions nor poetic utterances. They are ''s... W. H. AUDEN All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation W. H. AUDEN If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me W. H. AUDEN A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep W. H. AUDEN No hero is immortal till he dies W. H. AUDEN Let mortals beware of wordsFor with words we lieCan speak peaceWhen we mean warBut song is trueLet m... W. H. AUDEN A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a ... W. H. AUDEN All that we are not stares back at what we are W. H. AUDEN . . . see without looking, . . . hear without listening, . . . breathe without asking. W. H. AUDEN Private faces in public places / Are wiser and nicer / Than public faces in private places. W. H. AUDEN Alone, alone, about the dreadful wood / Of conscious evil runs a lost mankind, / Dreading to find it... W. H. AUDEN Though I believe it sinful to be queer, it has at least saved me from becoming a pillar of the estab... W. H. AUDEN Within these breakwaters English is spoken; without / Is the immense, improbable atlas. W. H. AUDEN Our researchers into Public Opinion are content/ That he held the proper opinions for the time of ye... W. H. AUDEN Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their conscience... W. H. AUDEN A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects. W. H. AUDEN I know nothing, except what everyone knows – if there when Graces dances, I should dance. W. H. AUDEN Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a jou... W. H. AUDEN We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know W. H. AUDEN Music is the best means we have of digesting time. W. H. AUDEN We would rather be ruined than changed, We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the... W. H. AUDEN Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say W. H. AUDEN Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of... W. H. AUDEN Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs ... W. H. AUDEN But all the clocks in the city Began to whirr and chime:'O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conq... W. H. AUDEN It's usually the stupid people that develop long illnesses. You need more than indolence and selfish... W. H. AUDEN Pleasure is by no means an infallible guide, but it is the least fallible. W. H. AUDEN Poor Poe! At first so forgotten that his grave went without a tomb-stone twenty-six years. . . today... W. H. AUDEN Thou shalt not sit With statisticians nor commit A social science W. H. AUDEN In the nightmare of the dark - All the dogs of Europe bark, And the living nations wait, Each seques... W. H. AUDEN Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings. W. H. AUDEN When it comes, will it come without warning/ Just as I'm picking my nose?/ Will it knock on my door ... W. H. AUDEN Yet no one hears his own remarks as prose. W. H. AUDEN If music in general is an imitation of history, opera in particular is an imitation of human willful... W. H. AUDEN All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will... W. H. AUDEN Few writers have had less journalistic talent than James, and this is his defect, for the supreme ma... W. H. AUDEN For who can bear to feel himself forgotten? W. H. AUDEN