"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh."

Humor

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on humor by W. H. Auden resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in humor is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form, and content. Some of his best known poems are about love, such as "Funeral Blues"; on political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles"; on cultural and psychological themes, such as The Age of Anxiety; and on religious themes, such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae".

More quotes by W. H. Auden  ’
Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by W. H. Auden

"Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be."

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"Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate."

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"All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him."

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More about Humor

"When we can find some humor in our upsets, they no longer seem as large or as important as they once did."

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"I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic."

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"You have to discover when you're inadequate to be funny and you don't know you're inadequate when you're a kid."

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