The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews.
Not to be born is the best for man.

W.H. Auden

More information about this quote

Topic

Desire The human condition

Author

W.H. Auden

Source

Death's Echo

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Occupation

Poet Writer

From

United Kingdom Europe

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Auden, W. H. Death's Echo. 1937.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by W.H. Auden about desire: “The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews. Not to be born is…”
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A quote by W.H. Auden about desire: “The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews. Not to be born is…”
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A quote by W.H. Auden about desire: “The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews. Not to be born is…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by W.H. Auden

Evil is unspectacular and always human,
And shares our bed and eats at our table.

W.H. Auden

More information about this quote
Topic
Nature of evil Evil

Author

W.H. Auden
Source
Herman Melville
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1940 1940s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Auden, W. H. "Herman Melville." Another Time. Faber and Faber/Random House, 1940.

Another quote from the 1930s

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

The Great Wall of China

More information about this quote
Topic
Stillness Paying attention

Author

Franz Kafka
Source
The Great Wall of China
Medium
Short story
Language
German
Time
1931 1930s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Kafka, Franz. Betrachtungen über Sünde, Leid, Hoffnung und den wahren Weg [Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way]. Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1931, no. 109.

Another quote about The human condition

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals-And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

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Read Hamlet at The Folger Shakespeare Library
More information about this quote
Topic
Man Human nature The human condition
Speaker
Hamlet

Author

William Shakespeare
Source
Hamlet
Medium
Play
Genre
Tragedy (play)
Language
English
Time
1616 1610s 17th century
Era
European Renaissance
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 2.