Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
To the man-in-the-street, who, I'm sorry to say, is a keen observer of life. The word Intellectual suggests straight away. A man who's untrue to his wife.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Auden critiques the perception of intellectuals as morally questionable figures.
In this quote, W. H. Auden reflects on the stereotype that intellectuals are often seen as unfaithful or morally ambiguous. He suggests that this view is a common belief among the general public ('the man-in-the-street'), highlighting how societal perceptions shape our understanding of character and moral integrity associated with intellectualism.
Themes
IntellectualMoralitySocietyPerceptionTruth
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on the role of ethics in academia, this quote can highlight public skepticism about intellectuals.
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.
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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.
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History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
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Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
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'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
W. H. AudenRead
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