Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
W. H. AudenLanguage is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought; words will tell you things you never thought or felt before.
W. H. AudenGod may reduce you on Judgment Day to tears of shame, reciting by heart the poems you would have written, had your life been good.
W. H. AudenInto this neutral air Where blind skyscrapers use Their full height to proclaim The strength of Collective Man, Each language pours its vain Competitive excuse.
W. H. Auden