“Aphorisms are essentially an aristocratic genre of writing.”

— W. H. Auden, Foreword to The Viking Book of Aphorisms (1962)

About W. H. Auden

1907 – 1973

Anglo-American poet, author of "September 1, 1939".

“We must love one another or die.”

“O let not Time deceive you, you cannot conquer Time.”

“The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”