We would rather be ruined than changed We would rather die … - W. H. Auden

" "
We would rather be ruined than changed
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die.

W. H. Auden

The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue · February 27, 2011 Verified in 1 source Sign up to see the complete provenance

poetry change fear

English

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About W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was an Anglo-American poet known for his vast poetic work in many forms on many themes.

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Also Known As

Native Name: Wystan Hugh Auden

Alternative Names: Wystan Auden • Wystan H Auden • W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden

All quotes from W. H. Auden Similar Quotes by other Originators

Shorter versions of this quote

We would rather die in dread/ Than climb the cross of the moment/ And let our illusions die.

Originators like W. H. Auden:

T. S. Eliot Czesław Miłosz E. M. Forster William Carlos Williams Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Additional quotes by W. H. Auden

I don't think the mystical experience can be verbalized. When the ego disappears, so does power over language.

A god who is both self-sufficient and content to remain so could not interest us enough to raise the question of his existence.

Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.

We would rather be ruined than changed We would rather die in our dread Than climb the cross of the moment And let our illusions die. - W. H. Auden

About W. H. Auden

Also Known As

Shorter versions of this quote

Additional quotes by W. H. Auden