Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have not yet developed a significant profile of their own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children's expressions are superficial and do not yet reveal their true selves.
This quote by W. H. Auden suggests that the outward appearances or expressions (countenances) of children, similar to animals, do not convey their true inner identities. At a young age, individuals have not yet forged a strong personal identity or character, and their outward expressions are mere masks that do not fully capture the complexity of their developing selves.
Themes
ChildrenIdentityExpressionPhilosophyDevelopment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about child development in a parenting seminar.
More from W. H. Auden
All quotes βThat the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes.
W. H. AudenRead
Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
W. H. AudenRead
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
W. H. AudenRead
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
W. H. AudenRead
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
W. H. AudenRead
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