Oscar Wilde is not only a talented writer whose works of fiction were admired or criticized. He was an extraordinary person, famous for his wit, and many of his statements became catchphrases. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” occupies a special place in his work. Of course, the work may seem too cynical to some, but the writer tried to talk about that side of a person that many do not think about. Below are quotes from The Picture of Dorian Gray.
About love
The main character, the young man Dorian Gray, was too vain and proud. But Lord Henry Wotton made him that way in many ways. He became interested in the handsome young man and began to seduce him with various temptations, while conducting cynical and even slightly misanthropic conversations. Of course, the hero of the work could not ignore the topic of love in his conversations:
“You love everyone, and loving everyone means loving no one. You are all equally indifferent.”
This is one of the most famous quotes from The Picture of Dorian Gray. Of course, one can argue with this statement, but you rarely meet a person who treats all people equally. All the same, a person will not be able to go to great lengths for all people to help or support them. This kind of love is superficial and simply allows people to communicate.
“Don’t say “the most beautiful novel in life.” Say better: “first.”
This quote belongs to Lord Henry Wotton, and it can be explained by the fact that every person has the desire to be one and only. This is especially true for love. Therefore, if a person wants to win the affection of his lover and his trust, he needs to show him that he had such a serious relationship with him. Lord Henry Wotton was a good psychologist, so he was able to influence Dorian Gray.
About friendship
The main character had no friends because he put himself above others. The only one Dorian Gray listened to was Lord Henry Wotton. It was the lord who talked with the young man about important topics, including friendship.
“It’s not bad if friendship begins with laughter, and it’s best if it ends with laughter.”
A quote from the book about Dorian Gray says that friendships should not be considered permanent in a person’s life. You need to try to ensure that communication ends on a happy note, so that only pleasant memories remain about friendship and a good idea of the person is preserved.
Oscar Wilde. Quotes in English with translation
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about life (in English)
Life is a nightmare that prevents one from sleeping.
I beg your pardon I didn't recognize you — I've changed a lot.
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about life (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about society (in English)
America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genuis.
Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about society (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about friendship (in English)
Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success.
I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there.
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about friendship (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about people (in English)
If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else`s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
Some things are more precious because they don't last long.
It is so easy to convince others; it is so difficult to convince oneself.
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about people (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about work (in English)
It is awfully hard work doing nothing.
Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.
Oscar Wilde. About work (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about myself (in English)
I suppose that I shall have to die beyond my means.
I can resist anything but temptation.
I am not young enough to know everything.
Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
I have nothing to declare except my genius.
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do — the day after.
I like talking to a brick wall- it's the only thing in the world that never contradicts me!
I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
Oscar Wilde. About myself (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about love (in English)
Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our intellects.
Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.
Men always want to be a woman's first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We women have a more subtle instinct about these things. What women like is to be a man's last romance.
Men marry because they are tired, women, because they are curious: both are disappointed. (From "The Picture of Dorian Gray")
One should always be in love. That's the reason one should never marry
The most terrible thing about it is not that it breaks one's heart—hearts are made to be broken—but that it turns one's heart to stone.
We women, as some one says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes..
I am happy in my prison of passion.
Woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat.
Oscar Wilde. About love (translation into Russian)
Oscar Wilde. Quotes about wine (in English)
I drink to separate my body from my soul.
Oscar Wilde. About wine (translation into Russian)
I decided to write this article because I couldn’t find a site on the Internet that had quotes with translations. I hope that it will be useful to both English language learners and aphorism lovers. Don't forget to share with your friends))
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About youth
This is perhaps one of the main themes of the book. Of course, all people want to stay young as long as possible for various reasons. Some worry about appearance, some believe that in youth a person has more opportunities, while others believe that youth is the happiest time.
Dorian Gray wanted to keep her because of his appearance: he was very handsome, and Lord Henry instilled pride and vanity in him, tried to instill in the young man that the only thing that is important in life is youth.
“Youth is the only wealth worth cherishing... It makes kings of those who possess it.”
Dorian Gray followed the advice, but it led to the destruction of his personality. Caring only about appearance, a person does not think about his inner beauty; as a result, there will be no close people left with him, and life will turn out to be empty and monotonous. The kings will be those people who care about their inner beauty.
“And he smiled because youth is cheerful for no reason - this is its main charm.”
This quote from Dorian Gray is different from the others: there is not an ounce of cynicism in it, it simply talks about what is so charming about youth. Young people are carefree, rarely think about the future, being confident that it will certainly be happy. In their youth they find more reasons to be happy, so it is not surprising that young men and women often smile.
“To regain youth, you just have to repeat all its follies.”
This quote from Dorian Gray shows that the main character's point of view is wrong. It's not about appearance, but about the inner feeling of a person. If he remains energetic and tries to find positive aspects in everything, then he feels young. Sometimes it is worth doing unusual things in order to again feel the carefreeness and lightness characteristic of your youth.
The Picture of Dorian GrayAudio
“To reveal oneself to people and to hide the artist—that is what art strives for.” “There are no moral or immoral books. There are books that are well written and books that are poorly written. That's all." "The ethics of art lies in the perfect use of imperfect means." "Even undeniable truths can be proven." "Do not attribute unhealthy tendencies to the artist: he is allowed to depict everything." "Art is a mirror that reflects the one who looks into it, and not life at all.” “You can forgive a person who does something useful, if only he does not admire it. For those who create something useless, the only justification is passionate love for their creation. All art is completely useless." "Really, these artists are eccentrics! They bend over backwards to achieve fame, and when fame comes, they seem to be burdened by it.” “Beauty, true beauty, disappears where spirituality appears. A highly developed intellect is in itself a kind of anomaly, it disrupts the harmony of the face." "There is something fatal in the fate of people, physically or spiritually perfect - exactly the same fate throughout history seems to have guided the wrong steps of kings. It’s much safer to be no different from others.” “The most ordinary trifle takes on amazing interest as soon as you begin to hide it from people.” “And this is the only beauty of marriage, that both parties inevitably have to become more sophisticated in their lies.” “Being natural is this is a pose, and the pose most hated by people!” “I am capable of believing in anything, and the more willingly it is, the more incredible it is.” “I remember your words that in a tailcoat and white tie, anyone, even a stockbroker, can pass for a civilized person “Conscience and cowardice are essentially the same thing, Basil. “Conscience” is the official name for cowardice, that’s all.” “It’s not bad if friendship begins with laughter, and it’s best if it ends with it.” “You love everyone, and loving everyone means loving no one. You are all equally indifferent.” “I choose beautiful people as my close friends, people with a good reputation as my friends, and I only make smart enemies. You should choose your enemies most carefully.” “My older brother doesn’t want to die, but the younger ones do just that.” “We can’t stand people with the same shortcomings that we have.” “Try to express some thought to a typical Englishman,” and this is a big negligence! - so he won’t think to figure out whether this thought is right or wrong. He is only interested in one thing: whether you yourself are convinced of what you are saying. Meanwhile, the idea is important, regardless of whether the one who expresses it sincerely believes in it.” “- Is yesterday already the past for you?
- What does time have to do with it? Only limited people need years to get rid of some feeling or impression. And a person who knows how to control himself is able to put an end to sadness as easily as to find new joy. I don't want to be a slave to my experiences. I want to enjoy them, get everything I can out of them. I want to control my feelings.” “People interest me more than their principles, and the most interesting thing is people without principles.”
“There is nothing that art cannot express.” “It is profitable to write about love, there is a great demand for it. Nowadays, a broken heart goes through many editions.” “An artist must create beautiful works of art without introducing anything from his personal life into them.” “Only hopeless cretins argue.” “Genius is undoubtedly more durable than Beauty.” “Having survived the romance of your former one.” life, man - alas! — becomes so prosaic!” “Those who are faithful in love have access only to its banal essence. The tragedy of love is experienced only by those who cheat.” “And how fascinatingly interesting are the feelings of people, much more interesting than their thoughts!” “Everyone praises those virtues in which he himself does not need to practice: the rich preach frugality, and the idle eloquently spread about the great importance of work.” “Women, at least virtuous women, do not value beauty.” “His whims are the law.” for everyone except himself." "There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. Any influence in itself is immoral - immoral from a scientific point of view." "The highest duty is a duty to oneself." "Every desire that we try to suppress wanders in our soul and poisons us." "Fulfillment is the path to purification.” “The only way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it.” “Simple words - but how terrible they are! You can't escape them. How clear, irresistibly strong and cruel they are! And at the same time, what an insidious charm lurks in them!” “Is there anything more powerful than words?” “The soul is best treated with sensations, and only the soul can heal from sensations.” “Youth is the only wealth worth preserving.” Time is jealous, it encroaches on the lilies and roses that the gods gave you." "We turn into disgusting puppets with haunting memories of those passions that we were too afraid of and temptations that we did not dare to give in to. Youth! “- Always!.. What a terrible word! I shudder when I hear it. Women especially love him. They spoil every romance, trying to make it last forever. Moreover, “always” is an empty word. The only difference between a whim and “eternal love” is that the whim lasts a little longer.” “Life, while shaping his soul, will destroy his body.” “You love your art more than your friends.” “When a person loses beauty, he loses everything.” “I love simple pleasures,” said Lord Henry. “They are the last refuge for complex natures.” “There is nothing colorful left in our life except vice.” “After all, in love, fidelity is entirely a matter of physiology, it does not depend in the least on our will. Young people want to be faithful - and they are not, old people would like to cheat, but where can they be! at times he vigorously scolded them, calling them a bunch of radicals.” “Believe me, Uncle George, it was purely family feelings that brought me to you at such an early hour. I need something from you.” “A loan is the only capital of the youngest son in the family, and you can live well on this capital.” “American girls hide their parents as cleverly as English ladies hide their past” “I like to know everything about his new acquaintances and nothing about old ones.” “Behind the beautiful there is always some tragedy hidden.” “How exciting it is to test the power of your influence on another person!” “Like all speakers who set themselves the goal of exhausting the topic, he exhausted patience of the listeners." "What horror! exclaimed Lord Henry. “I can still come to terms with brute force, but brute, stupid rationality is completely unbearable.” To be guided by reason - there is something ignoble in this. This means betraying the intellect." "- I sympathize with everything except human grief." "- Humanity exaggerates its role on earth." "To regain youth, one has only to repeat all its follies." "Nowadays, most people die from creeping forms of slavish prudence” “I love reading books too much, Mr. Erskine, and therefore I don’t write them.” “He made it a rule to always be late, believing that punctuality is the thief of time.” “Lady Wotton was always in love with someone - and always hopeless, so she retained all her illusions.” “Nowadays, people know the price of everything, but have no idea about the true value.” “Men marry out of fatigue, women marry out of curiosity. Marriage brings disappointment to both.” “- My boy, women are not geniuses. They are a decorative floor. They have nothing to say to the world, but they speak - and they say it nicely. A woman is the embodiment of matter triumphing over the spirit, while a man personifies the triumph of thought over morality.” “I came to the conclusion that women are mainly divided into two categories: those without makeup and those with makeup.” “Grande passion[9] is the privilege of people who They spend their lives in idleness.” “My boy, I consider those who love only once in their life to be superficial people. Their so-called loyalty and constancy are just lethargy of habit or lack of imagination. Loyalty in love, like consistency and immutability of thoughts, is simply proof of powerlessness... Loyalty! Someday I will analyze this feeling. It contains the greed of the owner. We would willingly give up a lot if it weren’t for the fear that someone else would pick it up... But I won’t interrupt you anymore.” “In art, as in politics, les grand-peres ont toujours tort (grandfathers are always wrong).” “Ordinary women do not excite our imagination. They do not go beyond the bounds of their time.” “Only sacred things are worth touching, Dorian,” said Lord Henry with a note of pathos in his voice, “And why are you angry?” After all, sooner or later, I believe, she will be yours. Falling in love begins with the fact that a person deceives himself, and ends with the fact that he deceives another." "There is something immensely pathetic in other people's dramas." "Everything he says bores me. He constantly gives me good advice.” “Dorian is so smart, my dear Basil, that he can’t help but do stupid things from time to time.” “And I never approve or condemn anything - this is the most absurd approach to life.” When a person is happy, he is always good. But good people are not always happy.” “To be good means to live in harmony with yourself,” explained Lord Henry, clasping the stem of his glass with his thin white fingers. “And whoever is forced to live in harmony with others is at odds with himself.” “I believe that a cultured person should under no circumstances accept the standard of his time; this is the grossest form of immorality.” “In the suffering of those “Whoever has fallen out of love, there is always something funny.” “Women and lovers are made only so that there is someone to make a scene.” “There is nothing more painful than painful uncertainty.” “There is a kind of voluptuousness in self-flagellation. And when we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has the right to blame us anymore.” “Good intentions are simply fruitless attempts to go against nature.” “Often, the true tragedies in life take such an unaesthetic form that they offend us with their crude fury , extreme illogicality and meaninglessness, a complete lack of grace” “If this beauty is genuine, then the drama of the event captivates us. And we suddenly notice that we are no longer actors, but only spectators of this tragedy.” “A person must absorb the colors of life, but never remember the details.” “Nothing flatters a woman’s vanity more than the reputation of a sinner.” What you don’t talk about is as if it never happened.” “Only words give reality to phenomena.” “Only limited people need years to get rid of some feeling or impression.” “You came to console me, it’s very nice of you.”
sides. But they found me already comforted - and then you get angry.” “It was a confession. And after it I felt like I had lost something. Perhaps one should never express one’s feelings in words.” “The past can always be erased by repentance, oblivion or renunciation, but the future is inevitable.” “Those forms of renunciation that people foolishly call virtues, and to the same extent those natural impulses of indignation against them which the sages still call vices.” “I didn’t say that I liked her. I said: “bewitched.” This is far from the same thing.” “In joy, as in any pleasure, there is almost always something cruel.” “People are instinctively afraid of passions and sensations that may be stronger than them, and, as we know, are also characteristic of lower creatures “It’s not for nothing that Nature, with magnificent irony, has always driven anchorites into the desert to live with wild animals, and given holy hermits four-legged inhabitants of forests and fields as life partners.” “In our life there should be no place for asceticism, which mortifies the senses, as well as for gross debauchery , dulling them." “Even the memory of happiness has its bitterness, and the memory of past pleasures causes pain.” “Society - at least civilized society - is not very inclined to believe what discredits rich and pleasant people.” “Is pretense such a great sin? Hardly. It is only a way to give diversity to the human personality.” “And I was tormented by melancholy, taedium vitae, by the terrible illness of those to whom life had denied nothing.” “Everyone who loves to teach others begins with a promise that this will be the first and last time, and then constantly breaks his promise.” “Each of us carries within us both hell and heaven, that youth is cheerful for no reason,” in This is its main charm." "There are sins that are sweeter to remember than to commit - peculiar victories that quench not so much passion as pride, and amuse the soul more than they have ever amused and are capable of amusing sensuality." "And for genuine romantic background is everything or almost everything..." "There are terrible dens where the memory of old sins can be drowned in the madness of new ones." "A person obsessed with passion has thoughts spinning in a vicious circle." "I never find fault with actions, I demanding only of words...” “Love feeds on repetition, and only repetition turns simple lust into art. Moreover, every time you fall in love, you love for the first time. The object of passion changes, but passion always remains one and only. Change only strengthens it. Life gives a person, at best, only one great moment, and the secret of happiness is to experience this great moment as often as possible.” “Reality is chaos, but there is an inexorable logic in the work of the human imagination. And only our imagination makes repentance follow on the heels of the crime. Only imagination depicts to us the disgusting consequences of each of our sins. In the real world of facts, sinners are not punished and the righteous are not rewarded. Success accompanies the strong, failure befalls the weak." "Strong passions, if they are not tamed, crush such people. These passions either kill or die themselves. Petty sorrows and shallow love are tenacious. Great love and great grief perish from the excess of their power." "The most terrible thing in the world is boredom." "Fate does not send us messengers - for this it is wise enough or cruel enough." “Knowledge is detrimental to love. Only the unknown captivates us. In the fog, everything seems extraordinary.” “Pleasure can be found in everything that becomes a habit.” “The desire to show off, which sometimes pushes us to do things nobler than ourselves?”
About people
Lord Henry tried to show the main character that people for the most part are hypocritical, weak and envious. Their morality is built on a hidden desire to be as vicious as the lord, but stupid beliefs prevent them from doing so. But not all of his reasoning is cynical.
“When we are happy, we seem to ourselves to be good people, but not all good people are happy.”
This quote from Dorian Gray can be explained this way: when people are happy, they feel that they deserve this happiness because they are good. At the same time, such individuals become a little selfish and do not think about others. Therefore, the fact that a person feels happy is not at all an indicator that he is good. It’s just that such a person knows how to appreciate what she has.
“Whenever a person commits stupidity, he does it from the noblest motives.”
Lord Henry believed that it is precisely because of the nobility of people that stupid things happen. This can be explained this way: when a person tries too hard, he can forget about what the other person really needs. And because they try too hard, people do stupid things, but they do it with the best intentions.
About public opinion
Lord Henry taught young Gray not to pay attention to public opinion, because it meant nothing. He said that it is more important to live life in pleasure than to follow any moral principles.
“If it’s unpleasant when people talk about you, then it’s even worse when they don’t talk about you at all.”
This quote from Dorian Gray can be explained as follows: people do not discuss only uninteresting and inconspicuous individuals who do nothing. But if a person strives for something or is talented in something, he will arouse interest among others. If a person is confident that she is doing the right thing, then she does not need to pay attention to public opinion.
Dorian Gray Quotes
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
- I hate death! - Why? - But because in our time a person can survive everything except her.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
“I like her very much, but I’m not in love with her.” “And she’s in love with you, although she doesn’t like you very much.”
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
— I believe in the greatness of the nation. - It is only a relic of enterprise and assertiveness. — It is the key to development. — Decline is dearer to me. - What about art? - It is a disease. - And love? - Illusion. - And religion? — A common surrogate for faith. - You are a skeptic. - Not at all! After all, skepticism is the beginning of faith. - Who are you? — To define means to limit. - Well, give me at least a thread. - The threads break. And you risk getting lost in the maze.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
I'm sick and tired of women in love. Women who hate are much more interesting.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Everyone lives as they want and pays for it themselves.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Each of us carries within us both hell and heaven.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Only limited people need years to get rid of some feeling or impression. And a person who knows how to control himself is able to put an end to sadness as easily as to find new joy. I don't want to be a slave to my experiences. I want to enjoy them, get everything I can out of them. I want to control my feelings.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
I like to listen to gossip about others, but gossip about me does not interest me. They don't have the charm of novelty.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
I asked her if she embalmed the hearts of her husbands and wore them on her belt, like Margaret of Navarre. She replied that it was impossible because neither of them had a heart.
Dorian Gray
Pleasure is very different from happiness. I mean, some things are more valuable because they don't last forever.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
... when a person loses beauty, he loses everything.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Ah, is there anything impossible in the world?
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
You came to console me, it's very nice of you. But you found me already comforted - and you get angry. This is human sympathy.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Life gives a person, at best, one single unique moment, and the secret of happiness is to repeat this moment as often as possible.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
...only words give reality to phenomena.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
I have never sought happiness. Who needs it? I was looking for pleasure.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Let's not talk about unpleasant things. What you don’t talk about is as if it never happened.
Dorian Gray
You taught me that life should burn like fire. But its light does not blind me, and its flame does not scorch me. I am the fire, I myself am the fire.
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
Why am I not suffering as much as I would like? Do I really have no heart?
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Grey
I'm tired of myself today and would love to turn into someone else.
