QuoteProject
Sob, heavy world Sob as you spin, Mantled in mist Remote from the happy.
W. H. Auden
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the weight of the world and the melancholy that can accompany existence.

W. H. Auden's quote captures the essence of human sorrow in a complex world filled with challenges and emotional burdens. It suggests that as we navigate through life, often veiled in uncertainty and sadness, we may feel distanced from genuine happiness, highlighting the juxtaposition of joy and despair inherent in the human experience.

Themes

SorrowWorldHappinessMistLife

In practice

Example use cases

I shared this quote during a poetry reading to illustrate the complexities of human emotions.

More from W. H. Auden

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
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

Similar quotes

Let us not envy some men their accumulated riches; their burden would be too heavy for us; we could not sacrifice, as they do, health, quiet, honor and conscience, to obtain them: It is to pay so dear from them that the bargain is a loss.
Jean De La BruyereRead
In a sense, by closing off the idea that young Muslims, and particularly young Muslim men, can be American heroes, it increases the chance that they'll try to be some other kind of hero. And that, I think, is entirely counterproductive.
Mohsin HamidRead
Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.
Romain RollandRead
Yoga is not an ancient myth buried in oblivion. It is the most valuable inheritance of the present. It is the essential need of today and the culture of tomorrow
Satyananda SaraswatiRead
The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.
Max LucadoRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.