The Picture of Dorian Gray
1890
The most dangerous book Oscar Wilde ever wrote begins with a question: What would you trade for eternal youth? Young Dorian Gray sees his portrait for the first time and wishes desperately that it might age instead of him. His wish is granted, and so begins a devil's bargain that lets Dorian pursue every indulgence, every sin, every cruelty, while his face remains perfect and the painting becomes a grotesque record of his moral decay. Wilde weaves a Gothic tale of suspense with the sharpest wit in Victorian England. Through Lord Henry Wotton, he delivers a seductive philosophy that beauty is the only truth, that morality is a lie invented by the ugly. Dorian falls under this spell, and we watch as he destroys everyone who loves him while remaining devastatingly beautiful. The novel endures because it asks what we all secretly want: to live without consequences, to stay young forever, to take what we desire. It remains as unsettling as it was when Wilde was prosecuted for writing it.
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“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.””
— Oscar Wilde
“You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.””
— Oscar Wilde
“To define is to limit.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.””
— Oscar Wilde
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.””
— Oscar Wilde
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.””
— Oscar Wilde
