W. H. Auden Quotes

My words, my writing, my actions—these have never been for myself alone, either directly or indirectly. There is no such thing as an artist who creates art only for himself. That is masturbation.

Art is great only when it bears the stamp of the individual.

Like everything genuine, its inner life guarantees its truth. All works of art created by truthful minds without regard for the work's conventional exterior remain genuine for all times.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

I write from what's in my heart. I write what I love and have always done that.

Being honest is my job. That's what music is for me.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

Art is about expressing the true nature of the human spirit in whatever way one wishes to express it. If it is honest, it is beautiful. If it is not honest, it is obvious.

Of course, I write. I have stories to tell. But I don't want to do superficial stuff any more.

We started making content because we wanted to see it, and so our content ended up being genuine.

You're creating ' it comes from the heart, the spirit, the soul. You're not manufacturing somebody else's plan, somebody else's blueprint, somebody else's idea that's not yours. So when you're creating, that's the beauty side of art, you know? It comes from within you.

I think art is much more valuable when it's honest. If it's not honest, it's just propaganda.

It's not always about huge giant commercial success. It's about art.

One cannot create an art that speaks to men when one has nothing to say.

We do have to be a witness to our art.

The maximum value of art is that it allows the artist to express himself.

Art remains the one way possible of speaking truth.

What one does in one's art, that is the breath of one's being. What one does in one's life, that is a bagatelle for the outsiders to fuss about.

My art is just an effort to express the truth of my being in gesture and movement. It has taken me long years to find even one absolutely true movement.

I do believe - and I know I shouldn't - that art transcends money and success and any of that. You can still do it if you're not clinging to the notion of nobility.

Real art, like the wife of an affectionate husband, needs no ornaments. But counterfeit art, like a prostitute, must always be decked out. The cause of production of real art is the artist's inner need to express a feeling that has accumulated...The cause of counterfeit art, as of prostitution, is gain. The consequence of true art is the introduction of a new feeling into the intercourse of life... The consequences of counterfeit art are the perversion of man, pleasure which never satisfies, and the weakening of man's spiritual strength.

Art without life is a poor affair.

To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.

Art only begins where Imitation ends.

I do not know anything about Art with a capital A. What I do know about is my art. Because it concerns me. I do not speak for others. So I do not speak for things which profess to speak for others. My art, however, speaks for me. It lights my way.