Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Addiction to sins can lead to dire consequences, potentially resulting in one's downfall.
This quote by W. H. Auden highlights the nature of sin and addiction, suggesting that engaging in sinful behavior can become a compulsive habit that ultimately leads to self-destruction or moral failure. It serves as a warning about the extreme consequences of giving in to our darker impulses, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and resisting such temptations.
Themes
AddictionSinDamnationConsequencesBehavior
In practice
Example use cases
In a talk about self-control, I quoted W. H. Auden to illustrate the dangers of giving in to bad habits.
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
God, how pointless and empty the world is! Days filled with cheap and tarnished moments succeed each other, restless and haunted nights follow in bitter routine: the sun shines without brightness, and the moon rises without light. My heart has the taste of ashes, and my throat is tight and weary with weeping. What is a lost soul? It is one that has turned from its true path and is groping in the darkness of remembered waysβ
Malcolm LowryRead
EPITAPH Now I'm not the brightest knife in the drawer, but I know a couple things about this life: poverty silence, impermanence discipline and mystery The world is not illusory, we are From crimson thread to toe tag If you are not disturbed there is something seriously wrong with you, I'm sorry And I know who I am I'll be a voice coming from nowhere, inside-- be glad for me.
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Once we are self-aware, we must choose purposes and principles to live by; otherwise the vacuum will be filled, and we will lose our self-awareness and become like groveling animals who live primarily for survival and propagation. People who exist on that level aren't living; they are "being lived".
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I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.
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Probability is the very guide of life.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
To all new truths, or renovation of old truths, it must be as in the ark between the destroyed and the about-to-be renovated world. The raven must be sent out before the dove, and ominous controversy must precede peace and the olive wreath.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead