The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Original 1890 Edition (A Oscar Wilde Classics)

by Oscar Wilde

I cannot help telling you things. You have a curious influence over me. If I ever did a crime, I would come and confess it to you. You would understand me.”

“It is only the sacred things that are worth touching,

When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one’s self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.

Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life.

To have ruined one’s self over poetry is an honour.

There is always something infinitely mean about other people’s tragedies.”

I get hungry for her presence;

“To-night she is Imogen,” he answered, “and to-morrow night she will be Juliet.” “When is she Sibyl Vane?” “Never.”

it is personalities, not principles, that move the age.”

He says things that annoy me. He gives me good advice.”

“People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.”

The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists.

Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are.

He lives the poetry that he cannot write.

There were maladies so strange that one had to pass through them if one sought to understand their nature.

Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away.

Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes.

It was clear to him that the experimental method was the only method by which one could arrive at any scientific analysis of the passions;

Our weakest motives were those of whose nature we were conscious.

It often happened that when we thought we were experimenting on others we were really experimenting on ourselves.

The joy of a caged bird was in her voice.

She was free in her prison of passion.

Women defend themselves by attacking,

“I suppose one must be serious sometimes.

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.

To be in love is to surpass one’s self.

“I shudder at the thought of being free.”

The vulgar directness of the question called for a direct answer.

“No,” she answered, wondering at the harsh simplicity of life.

“I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.

I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do.

unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality.

to be highly organized is, I should fancy, the object of man’s existence.

every experience is of value, and whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience.

“The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

As for a spoiled life, no life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested.

As for marriage, of course that would be silly, but there are other and more interesting bonds between men and women.

Of course, it is sudden—all really delightful things are.

I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern.”

When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.”

“To be good is to be in harmony with one’s self,”

Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one’s age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality.”

the real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich.”

Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces and always prevent us from carrying them out.”

It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?

I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.”

I love acting. It is so much more real than life.

Love is a more wonderful thing than art.” “They are both simply forms of imitation,”

There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating—people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.