WILDE, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray

OSCAR WILDE: THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

QUOTES FOR DISCUSSION

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, preface, pg. 1 - Preface

All art is quite useless.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, preface, pg. 2

I really can’t exhibit it. I’ve put too much of myself into it.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 1, pg. 4

 But I can’t help detesting my relations. I supposed it comes from the fact that none of us can stand other people having the same faults as ourselves.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 1, pg. 11

… we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and fact, in the silly hope of keeping our place. The thoroughly well-informed man- that is the modern ideal. And the mind of the thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-á-brac shop, all monsters and dust, with everything priced above its proper value.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 1, pg. 14

People are afraid of themselves nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals; the terror of God, which is the secret of religions- these are the two things that govern us.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 2, pg. 20

Some day, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines, and passion branded your lips with its hideous fires, you will feel it, you will feel it terribly.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 2, pg. 24

Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 2, pg. 25

How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June… If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and picture that was to grow old! For that – for that- I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 2, pg. 28

Examinations, sir, are pure humbug from beginning to end. If a man is a gentleman he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 3, pg. 35

I am too fond of reading books to care to write them.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 3, pg. 46

My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 4, pg. 51

My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 4, pg. 53

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.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 4, pg. 56

“I don’t want to see him alone. He says things that annoy me. He gives me good advice.”
Lord Henry smiled, “People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I all the depth of generosity.”
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 4, pg. 60

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older, they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 5, pg. 70

I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 6, pg. 78

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.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 6, pg. 81

What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that. Ah! Don’t mock. It is an irrevocable vow that I want to take. Her trust makes me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me. I become different from what you have known me to be I am changed and the mere touch of Sibyl Vane’s hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 6, pg. 82

…before I knew you, acting was the one reality of my life. It was only in the theater that I lived. I thought that it was all true. I was Rosalind one night, and Portia the other. The joy of Beatrice was my joy and the sorrows of Cordelia were mine also. I believe in everything.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 7, pg. 90

“I must sow poppies in my garden,” sighed Dorian.
“There is no necessity,” rejoined his companion. “Life has always poppies in her hands.”
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 8, pg. 105

For years Dorian Gray could not free himself from the influence of this book; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never sought to free himself from it.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 11, pg. 130

He collected together from all parts of the world the strangest instruments that could be found either in the tombs of dead nations or among the few savage tribes that have survive contact with Western civilizations, and loved to touch and try them.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 11, pg. 137

Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 11, pg. 146

"Still, we have done great things."

"Great things have been thrust on us, Gladys."

 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 17, pg. 200

In the common world of fact the wicked were not punished, nor the good rewarded. Success was given to the strong, failure thrust upon the weak. That was all.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 18, pg. 205

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 19, pg. 215