Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
I will love you forever" swears the poet. I find this easy to swear too. "I will love you at 4:15 pm next Tuesday" - Is that still as easy?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts the ideal of eternal love with the challenge of committing to specific moments in time.
W. H. Auden's quote explores the complexity of love, highlighting that while it may be easy to declare deep, enduring feelings, actually committing to those feelings in tangible, everyday moments is much more challenging. It suggests that true love is not just about grand promises but also about the consistency and presence in daily life.
Themes
LoveCommitmentEternalMomentsPromises
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding ceremony, this quote could emphasize the importance of love not just in grand gestures but in everyday commitments.
More from W. H. Auden
All quotes βThat 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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