9 famous lines from Oscar Wilde, word for word from the original text
Oscar Wilde's only novel (1890) follows a young man whose portrait ages while he stays beautiful. Lord Henry's witty epigrams and the famous preface on art make it one of the most quotable books ever written.
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter II · about 8% into the book
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter I · about 1% into the book
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter I · about 3% into the book
“To define is to limit.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter XVII · about 88% into the book
“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter III · about 16% into the book
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter IV · about 21% into the book
“Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter IV · about 26% into the book
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Preface · about 1% into the book
“All art is quite useless.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Preface · about 1% into the book
Chapters follow the Project Gutenberg edition. Page numbers differ between printed editions — that's why Eqtepas records the page of your copy when you save a quote.
One of the best-known lines from The Picture of Dorian Gray is: “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” (Chapter II).
Yes. Every quote on this page is copied word for word from the public-domain text of The Picture of Dorian Gray on Project Gutenberg, with the chapter it appears in — so you can find it in your own copy.
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