What the worm was to the corpse, his sins would be to the painted image on the canvas. They would mar its beauty, and eat away its grace. they would defile it, and make it shameful. And yet the thing would still live on. It would be always alive. (Dorian Gray regarding his portrait)

He wanted to be where no one would know who he was. He wanted to escape from himself.

There is only one real tragedy in a woman's life. The fact that her past is always her lover, and her future invariably her husband.

Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age.

It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.

One should never make one's entrance with a scandal. One should reserve that to give an interest to one's old age.

Marriage is a long, dull meal with dessert served at the beginning.