Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
Like love we don't know where or why Like love we cant compel or fly Like Love we often weep Like Love we seldom keep
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the unpredictable and often ephemeral nature of love and emotions.
In this quote, W. H. Auden emphasizes the complexities and mysteries of love. He suggests that love is something we cannot control or fully understand, highlighting its transient nature as well as the sorrow that often accompanies it. The imagery of weeping and the inability to retain love captures the bittersweet experience of human connection.
Themes
LoveEmotionsLossEphemeralConnection
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding toast to celebrate the complexity of relationships.
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
Similar quotes
You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
Warsan ShireRead
If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.
Michael JacksonRead
If proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.
Michelle ObamaRead
Coherence and closure are deep human desires that are presently unfashionable. But they are always both frightening and enchantingly desirable. "Falling in love," characteristically, combs the appearances of the word, and of the particular lover's history, out of a random tangle and into a coherent plot.
A. S. ByattRead
βGod,β she cried, βwhat is love? Man seeking his own head? The human head, so rented by misery that even the teeth weigh! She couldn't tell me the truth because she had never planned it; her life was a continual accident, and how can you be prepared for that? Everything we can't bear in this world, some day we find in one person, and love it all at once.β
Djuna BarnesRead
What I've found is that the religion that matters, the real religion is love.
Muhammad AliRead