Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.

In fact, I am never wrong.

If it is not nailed to the floor, it's mine. If I can pry it loose, it is not nailed down.

How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "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 the 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!

If you are going to tell people the truth, you had better make them laugh or they will kill you.

I find him in the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and subtleties of certain colours.

Just as the orator marks his good things by a dramatic pause, or by raising and lowering his voice, or by gesture, so the writer marks his epigrams with italics, setting the little gem, so to speak, like a jeweler.