Attacking bad books is not only a waste of time but also bad for the character. If I find a book really bad, the only interest I can derive from writing about it has to come from myself, from such display of intelligence, wit and malice as I can contrive. One cannot review a bad book without showing off.
W. H. AudenAll the rest is silence On the other side of the wall, And the silence ripeness, And the ripeness all.
W. H. AudenSome writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.
W. H. AudenWhat the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.
W. H. AudenTo pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever a man so concentrates his attention - on a landscape, a poem, a geometrical problem, an idol, or the True God - that he completely forgets his own ego and desires, he is praying. The primary task of the schoolteacher is to teach children, in a secular context, the technique of prayer.
W. H. Auden