The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde

"Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know,"

various moods through which the world-spirit had ever passed, loving for their mere artificiality those renunciations that men have unwisely called virtue, as much as those natural rebellions that wise men still call sin.

Society--civilized society, at least-- is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef.

He knew in what strange heavens they were suffering, and what dull hells were teaching them the secret of some new joy.