Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the differing ways our senses interact with familiarity and novelty.
W. H. Auden's quote highlights the contrasting behaviors of our ears and eyes in how they respond to sound and sight. The ear often seeks out the familiar, showing a tendency to prefer what it knows, while the eye is drawn to new experiences and can become weary of the routine. This observation invites us to consider how we engage with the world and the importance of balancing our experiences with both familiarity and novelty.
Themes
SensesFamiliarityNoveltyPerceptionExperience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about art appreciation, emphasizing the need for fresh perspectives.
More from W. H. Auden
All quotes →That the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes.
W. H. AudenRead
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. AudenRead
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
W. H. AudenRead
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
W. H. AudenRead
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
W. H. AudenRead
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