Auden, W. H. -- The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, Part 5 “The Masque” (1947)

Dave — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 20:06:45 +0000

Only animals who are below civilization and the angels who are beyond it can be sincere. Human beings are, necessarily, actors who cannot become something before they have first pretended to be it; and they can be divided, not into the hypocritical and the sincere, but into the sane who know they are acting and the mad who do not.

W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, Part 5 “The Masque” (1947)

Jean Kerr, in her play (1973) Finishing Touches, Act 1, the character Jeff paraphrases the above:

Remember what Auden says. Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.

The idea of habit becoming character, or practicing one's way to (usually) virtue, can be found in numerous variations. See also Aristotle (c. 325 BC) (and again, and again), Plutarch (c. AD 90), Hawthorne (1850), Reade (c. 1860), Clarke (c. 1860), Roosevelt (1913), Lewis (1952), Hoffer (1955), Eco (1988).

Coffin, William Sloane -- “Spirituality,” sermon, Riverside Church, New York City (1986-10-26)

Dave — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:12:44 +0000

Most of the time we aren’t really present one to another, we just bump masks.

William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924–2006) American minister, social activist
“Spirituality,” sermon, Riverside Church, New York City (1986-10-26)

Sermon on Psalm 46, Galatians 5:16-26.

Like most writers of sermons, Coffin used the phrase on multiple occasions, e.g., in A Passion for the Possible, ch. 6 "Sexism" (1993):

Vulnerability is a great virtue, as Paul realized when he said, "Whenever I am weak, then I am strong." Without it there can be neither honesty nor intimacy. Without vulnerability we don't really meet each other, we just bump masks.

(Referencing 2 Corinthians 12:10.)

WIST Quotations

Auden, W. H. -- The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, Part 5 “The Masque” (1947)

Coffin, William Sloane -- “Spirituality,” sermon, Riverside Church, New York City (1986-10-26)