- "Punctuality is the thief of time"

- "Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".

- "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed".

- "My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals".

- "A grande passion in the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country".

- "My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyality, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure. Faithfulness! I must analyse it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up".

- "The longer I live, Dorian, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us. In art, as in politics, les grandperes ont toujours tort".

- "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian".

- "When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance".

- "Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour".

- "There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies".

- "It is personalities, not principles, that move the age".

- "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity".

- "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really good poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse of their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look".

- "There was animalism i the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade".

- "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes".

- "All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy".

- "Women defend themselves by attacking, just as they attack by sudden and strange surrenders".

- "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older judge them; sometimes they forgive them".

- "To be in love is to surpass oneself".

- "When poverty creeps in at the door, love flies in through the window".

- "To see him is to worship him, to know him is to trust him".

- "Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives".

- "She is better than good - she is beautiful".

- "I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life".

- "I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me".

- "The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. Still, there are certain temperaments that marriage makes more complex. They retain their egotism, and add to it many other egos. They are forced to have more than one life. They become more highly organised, and to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence. Besides, every experience is of value, and, whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience".

- "The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the posession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said".

- "No life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested".

- "If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it".

- "I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are".

- "Women are wonderfully practical, much more practical than we are. In situations of that kind we often forget to say anything about marriage, and they always remind us".

- "I asked the question for the best reason possible, for the only reason, indeed, that excuses one for asking any question - simple curiosity".

- "I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern".

- "What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that".

- "Pleasure is the only thing worth having a theory about".

- "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy".

- "To be good is to be in harmony with oneself".

- "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One's own life - that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality".

- "The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich".

- "Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact. Believe me, no civilised man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilised man ever knows what a pleasure is".

- "I know what pleasure is. It is to adore someone".

- "Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them".

- "Whatever they ask for they had first given it to us. They create Love in our natures. They have a right to demang it back".

- "Nothing is ever quite true".

- "Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out".

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?"

- "Punctuality is the thief of time"

- "Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".

- "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed".

- "My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals".

- "A grande passion in the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country".

- "My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyality, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure. Faithfulness! I must analyse it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up".

- "The longer I live, Dorian, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us. In art, as in politics, les grandperes ont toujours tort".

- "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian".

- "When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance".

- "Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour".

- "There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies".

- "It is personalities, not principles, that move the age".

- "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity".

- "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really good poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse of their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look".

- "There was animalism i the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade".

- "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes".

- "All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy".

- "Women defend themselves by attacking, just as they attack by sudden and strange surrenders".

- "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older judge them; sometimes they forgive them".

- "To be in love is to surpass oneself".

- "When poverty creeps in at the door, love flies in through the window".

- "To see him is to worship him, to know him is to trust him".

- "Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives".

- "She is better than good - she is beautiful".

- "I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life".

- "I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me".

- "The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. Still, there are certain temperaments that marriage makes more complex. They retain their egotism, and add to it many other egos. They are forced to have more than one life. They become more highly organised, and to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence. Besides, every experience is of value, and, whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience".

- "The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the posession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said".

- "No life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested".

- "If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it".

- "I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are".

- "Women are wonderfully practical, much more practical than we are. In situations of that kind we often forget to say anything about marriage, and they always remind us".

- "I asked the question for the best reason possible, for the only reason, indeed, that excuses one for asking any question - simple curiosity".

- "I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern".

- "What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that".

- "Pleasure is the only thing worth having a theory about".

- "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy".

- "To be good is to be in harmony with oneself".

- "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One's own life - that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality".

- "The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich".

- "Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact. Believe me, no civilised man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilised man ever knows what a pleasure is".

- "I know what pleasure is. It is to adore someone".

- "Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them".

- "Whatever they ask for they had first given it to us. They create Love in our natures. They have a right to demang it back".

- "Nothing is ever quite true".

- "Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out".

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?"

- "Punctuality is the thief of time"

- "Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".

- "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed".

- "My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals".

- "A grande passion in the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country".

- "My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyality, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure. Faithfulness! I must analyse it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up".

- "The longer I live, Dorian, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us. In art, as in politics, les grandperes ont toujours tort".

- "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian".

- "When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance".

- "Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour".

- "There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies".

- "It is personalities, not principles, that move the age".

- "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity".

- "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really good poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse of their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look".

- "There was animalism i the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade".

- "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes".

- "All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy".

- "Women defend themselves by attacking, just as they attack by sudden and strange surrenders".

- "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older judge them; sometimes they forgive them".

- "To be in love is to surpass oneself".

- "When poverty creeps in at the door, love flies in through the window".

- "To see him is to worship him, to know him is to trust him".

- "Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives".

- "She is better than good - she is beautiful".

- "I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life".

- "I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me".

- "The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. Still, there are certain temperaments that marriage makes more complex. They retain their egotism, and add to it many other egos. They are forced to have more than one life. They become more highly organised, and to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence. Besides, every experience is of value, and, whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience".

- "The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the posession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said".

- "No life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested".

- "If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it".

- "I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are".

- "Women are wonderfully practical, much more practical than we are. In situations of that kind we often forget to say anything about marriage, and they always remind us".

- "I asked the question for the best reason possible, for the only reason, indeed, that excuses one for asking any question - simple curiosity".

- "I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern".

- "What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that".

- "Pleasure is the only thing worth having a theory about".

- "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy".

- "To be good is to be in harmony with oneself".

- "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One's own life - that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality".

- "The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich".

- "Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact. Believe me, no civilised man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilised man ever knows what a pleasure is".

- "I know what pleasure is. It is to adore someone".

- "Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them".

- "Whatever they ask for they had first given it to us. They create Love in our natures. They have a right to demang it back".

- "Nothing is ever quite true".

- "Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out".

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?"

- "Punctuality is the thief of time"

- "Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".

- "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed".

- "My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals".

- "A grande passion in the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country".

- "My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyality, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure. Faithfulness! I must analyse it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up".

- "The longer I live, Dorian, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us. In art, as in politics, les grandperes ont toujours tort".

- "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian".

- "When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance".

- "Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour".

- "There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies".

- "It is personalities, not principles, that move the age".

- "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity".

- "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really good poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse of their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look".

- "There was animalism i the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade".

- "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes".

- "All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy".

- "Women defend themselves by attacking, just as they attack by sudden and strange surrenders".

- "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older judge them; sometimes they forgive them".

- "To be in love is to surpass oneself".

- "When poverty creeps in at the door, love flies in through the window".

- "To see him is to worship him, to know him is to trust him".

- "Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives".

- "She is better than good - she is beautiful".

- "I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life".

- "I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me".

- "The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. Still, there are certain temperaments that marriage makes more complex. They retain their egotism, and add to it many other egos. They are forced to have more than one life. They become more highly organised, and to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence. Besides, every experience is of value, and, whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience".

- "The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the posession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said".

- "No life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested".

- "If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it".

- "I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are".

- "Women are wonderfully practical, much more practical than we are. In situations of that kind we often forget to say anything about marriage, and they always remind us".

- "I asked the question for the best reason possible, for the only reason, indeed, that excuses one for asking any question - simple curiosity".

- "I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern".

- "What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that".

- "Pleasure is the only thing worth having a theory about".

- "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy".

- "To be good is to be in harmony with oneself".

- "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One's own life - that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality".

- "The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich".

- "Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact. Believe me, no civilised man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilised man ever knows what a pleasure is".

- "I know what pleasure is. It is to adore someone".

- "Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them".

- "Whatever they ask for they had first given it to us. They create Love in our natures. They have a right to demang it back".

- "Nothing is ever quite true".

- "Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out".

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?"

- "Punctuality is the thief of time"

- "Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".

- "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed".

- "My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals".

- "A grande passion in the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country".

- "My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyality, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure. Faithfulness! I must analyse it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up".

- "The longer I live, Dorian, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us. In art, as in politics, les grandperes ont toujours tort".

- "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian".

- "When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance".

- "Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour".

- "There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies".

- "It is personalities, not principles, that move the age".

- "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity".

- "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really good poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse of their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look".

- "There was animalism i the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade".

- "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes".

- "All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy".

- "Women defend themselves by attacking, just as they attack by sudden and strange surrenders".

- "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older judge them; sometimes they forgive them".

- "To be in love is to surpass oneself".

- "When poverty creeps in at the door, love flies in through the window".

- "To see him is to worship him, to know him is to trust him".

- "Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives".

- "She is better than good - she is beautiful".

- "I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life".

- "I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me".

- "The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. Still, there are certain temperaments that marriage makes more complex. They retain their egotism, and add to it many other egos. They are forced to have more than one life. They become more highly organised, and to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence. Besides, every experience is of value, and, whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience".

- "The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the posession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said".

- "No life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested".

- "If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it".

- "I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are".

- "Women are wonderfully practical, much more practical than we are. In situations of that kind we often forget to say anything about marriage, and they always remind us".

- "I asked the question for the best reason possible, for the only reason, indeed, that excuses one for asking any question - simple curiosity".

- "I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern".

- "What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that".

- "Pleasure is the only thing worth having a theory about".

- "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy".

- "To be good is to be in harmony with oneself".

- "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One's own life - that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality".

- "The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich".

- "Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact. Believe me, no civilised man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilised man ever knows what a pleasure is".

- "I know what pleasure is. It is to adore someone".

- "Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them".

- "Whatever they ask for they had first given it to us. They create Love in our natures. They have a right to demang it back".

- "Nothing is ever quite true".

- "Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out".

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?"

- "Punctuality is the thief of time"

- "Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".

- "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed".

- "My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals".

- "A grande passion in the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country".

- "My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyality, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure. Faithfulness! I must analyse it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up".

- "The longer I live, Dorian, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us. In art, as in politics, les grandperes ont toujours tort".

- "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian".

- "When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance".

- "Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour".

- "There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies".

- "It is personalities, not principles, that move the age".

- "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity".

- "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really good poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse of their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look".

- "There was animalism i the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade".

- "Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes".

- "All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy".

- "Women defend themselves by attacking, just as they attack by sudden and strange surrenders".

- "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older judge them; sometimes they forgive them".

- "To be in love is to surpass oneself".

- "When poverty creeps in at the door, love flies in through the window".

- "To see him is to worship him, to know him is to trust him".

- "Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives".

- "She is better than good - she is beautiful".

- "I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life".

- "I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me".

- "The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. Still, there are certain temperaments that marriage makes more complex. They retain their egotism, and add to it many other egos. They are forced to have more than one life. They become more highly organised, and to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence. Besides, every experience is of value, and, whatever one may say against marriage, it is certainly an experience".

- "The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the posession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said".

- "No life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested".

- "If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it".

- "I have never been so happy. Of course it is sudden: all really delightful things are".

- "Women are wonderfully practical, much more practical than we are. In situations of that kind we often forget to say anything about marriage, and they always remind us".

- "I asked the question for the best reason possible, for the only reason, indeed, that excuses one for asking any question - simple curiosity".

- "I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women. Except, of course, in middle-class life. But then the middle classes are not modern".

- "What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that".

- "Pleasure is the only thing worth having a theory about".

- "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy".

- "To be good is to be in harmony with oneself".

- "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One's own life - that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality".

- "The real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich".

- "Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date. One can use them in fiction, of course. But then the only things that one can use in fiction are the things that one has ceased to use in fact. Believe me, no civilised man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilised man ever knows what a pleasure is".

- "I know what pleasure is. It is to adore someone".

- "Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as Humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them".

- "Whatever they ask for they had first given it to us. They create Love in our natures. They have a right to demang it back".

- "Nothing is ever quite true".

- "Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out".

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?"

- "The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. Thehighest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography".

- "Books are well written, or badly written. That is all".

- "No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style".

- "The artist can express everything".

- "Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art".

- "All art is at once surface and symbol".

- "The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely".

- "All art is quite useless".

- "But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face".

- "If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat".

- "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself".

- "With an evening coat and a white tie, as you told me once, anybody, even a stockbroker, can gain a reputation for being civilised".

- "Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all".

- "Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one".

- "You like everyone; that is to say, you are indifferent to everyone".

- "I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects".

- "I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world".

- "There is nothing that Art cannot express".

- "There's no doubt that Genius lasts longer than Beauty".

- "Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He doesn't think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realise one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, duties, the duty that one owes to one's self. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion - these are the two things that govern us".

- "I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream - I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of medievalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal - to something finer, richer, than the Hellenic ideal, it may be. But the bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself".

- "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful".

- "Was there anything so real as words?"

- "Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul".

- "You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know".

- "Because you have the most marvellous youth, and youth is the one thing worth having".

- "And Beauty is a form of Genius - is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation".

- "To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible..."

- "What the gods give they quickly take away".

- "The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer".

- "When one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything".

- "Sin is the only real colour element left in modern life".

- "Why, even in love it is purely a question for physiology. It has nothing to do with our own will. Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot: that is all one can say".

- "American girls are as clever at concealing their parents, as English women are at concealing their past".

- "I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones".

- "I can sympathise with everything, except suffering".

- "The less said about life' sores the better".

- "The advantage of the emotions is that thet lead us astray, and the advantage of Science is that it is not emotional".

- "If the caveman had known how to laugh, History would have been different".

- "To get back one's youth, one has merely to repeat one's follies".

- "The praise of folly, as he went on, soared into a philosophy, and Philosophy herself became young, and catching the mad music of Pleasure, wearing, one might fancy, her wine-stained robe and wreath of ivy, danced like a Bacchante over the hills of life, and mocked the slow Silenus for being sober".

- "I am too fond of reading books to care to write them".

- "Of all people in the world the English have the least sence of the beauty of literature".

'It's more than curious', he replied; 'in my case it is imcomprehensible. I posess a diploma for modern languages. I won my scholarship purely on the strenghth of my French and German. The correctness of my construction, the purity of my pronunciation, was considered at my college to be quite remarkable. Yet, when I come abroad hardly anybody understands a word I say. Can you explain it?'
'I think I can,' I replied. 'Your pronunciation is too faultless. You remember what the Scotsman said when for the first time in his life he tasted real whisky: " It may be puir, but I canna drink it"; so it is with your German. It strikes one less as a language than as an exhibition. If I might offer advice, I should say: Mispronounce as much as possible, and throw in as many mistakes as you can think of'.
 It is the same everywhere. Each country keeps a special pronunciation exclusively for the use of foreigners - a pronunciation they never dream of using themselves, that they cannot understand when it is used. I once heard an English lady explaining to a Frenchman how to pronounce the word Have.
'You will pronounce it,' said the lady reproachfully, 'as if it were spelt H-a-v. It isn't. There is an "e" at the end'.
'But I thought,' said the pupil, 'that you did not sound the "e" at the end of h-a-v-e.'
'No more you do,' explained his teacher. 'It is what we call a mute "e"; but it exercises a modifying influence on the preceding vowel.'
Before that, he used to say 'have' quite intelligently. Afterwards, when he came to the word he would stop dead, collect his thoughts, and give expression to a sound that only the context could explain.

(Chapter 12)

- "Each person has what he doesn't want, and other people have what he does want.
Married men have wives, and don't seem to want them; and young single fellows cry out that they can't get them. Poor people who can hardly keep themselves have eight hearty children. Rich old couples, with no one to leave their money to, die childless.
Then there are girls with lovers. The girls that have lovers never want them. They say they would rather be without them, that they bother them, and why don't they go and make love to Miss Smith and Miss Brown, who are plain and elderly, and haven't got any lovers. They never mean to marry.
It does not do to dwell on these things; it makes one so sad".

- "We are creatures os the sun, we men and women. We love light and life. That is why we crowd into the towns and cities, and the country grows more and more deserted every year. In the sunlight - in the daytime, when Nature is alive and busy all around us, we like the open hillsides and the deep woods well enough: but in the night, when our Mother Earth has gone to sleep, and left us waking, oh! the world seems so lonesome, and we get frightened, like children in a silent house. Then we sit and sob, and long for the gas-lit streets, and the sound of human voices, and the answering throb of human life. We feel so helpless and so little in the great stillness, when the dark trees rustle in the night-wind. There are so many ghosts about, and their silent sighs make us feel so sad. Let us gather together in the great cities, and light huge bonfires of a million gas-jets, and shout and sing together and feel brave".

- "The less taste a person has in dress, the more obstinate he always seems to be".

- "It was very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions. After eggs and bacon, it says, 'Work!' After beefsteak and porter, it says, 'Sleep!' After a cup of tea (two spoonfuls for each cup, and don't let it stand more than three minutes), it says to the brain, 'Now, rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!'
After hot muffins, it says, 'Be dull and soulless, like a beast of the field - a brainless animal with listless eye, unlit by any ray of fancy, or of hope, or fear, or love, or life.' And after brandy, taken in sufficient quantity, it says, 'Now, come, fool, grin and tumble, that your fellow-men may laugh - drivel in folly, and splutter in senseless sounds, and show what a helpless ninny is poor man whose wit and will are drowned, like kittens, side by side, in half an inch of alcohol.'
We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. Reach not after morality and righteousness, my friends; watch vigilantly your stomach, and diet it with care and judgement. Then virtue and contentment will come and reign within your heart, unsought by any effort of your own; and you will be a good citizen, a loving husband, and a tender father - a noble, pious man."

The truest love that ever heart
Felt at its kindled core,
Did through each vein, in quickened start,
The tide of being pour.

Her coming was my hope each day,
Her parting was my pain;
The chance that did her steps delay
Was ice in every vein.

I dreamed it would be nameless bliss,
As I loved, loved to be;
And to this object did i press
As blind as eagerly.

But wide as pathless was the space
That lay our lives between,
And dangerous as the foamy race
Of ocean-surges green.

And haunted as a robber-path
Through wilderness or wood;
For Might and Right, and Woe and Wrath,
Between our spirits stood.

I dangers dared; I hindrance scorned;
I omens did defy:
Whatever menaced, harassed, warned,
I passed impetuous by.

On sped my rainbow, fast as light;
I flew as in a dream;
For glorious rose upon my sight
That child of Shower and Gleam.

Still bright on clouds of suffering dim
Shines that soft, solemn joy;
Nor care I now, how dense and grim
Disasters gather nigh.

I care not in this moment sweet,
Though all I have rushed o'er
Should come on pinion, strong and fleet,
Proclaiming venegeance sore:

Though haughty Hate should strike me down,
Right, bar approach to me,
And grinding Might, with furious frown,
Swear endless enmity.

My love has placed her little hand
With noble faith in mine,
And vowed that wedlock's sacred band
Our nature shall entwine.

My love has sworn, with sealing kiss,
With me to live - to die;
I have at last my nameless bliss:
As I love - loved am I!

- "Послушай, милый друг, кто нынече не гнется,
Ни до чего тот не добьется."

- "Портрет хорош, - оригинал-то скверен!"
- "И если бы не лень, то стал бы лицемерить..."

- "У маски ни души, ни званья нет, - есть тело.
И если маскою черты утаены,
То маску с чувств снимают смело."

- "Век нынешний, блестящий, но ничтожный."

- "Подумаешь: зачем живем мы?для того ли,
Чтоб вечно угождать на чуждый нрав
И рабствовать всегда!"

- "Что ныне женщина?создание без воли,
Игрушка для страстей иль прихотей других!
Имея свет судьей и без защиты в свете,
Она должна таить весь пламень чувств своих
Иль удушить их в полном цвете:
Что женщина?"

- "Что ни толкуй Волтер или Декарт -
Мир для меня - колода карт,
Жизнь - банк; рок мечет, я играю"

- "Язык и золото...вот наш кинжал и яд!"

- "Что жизнь?давно известная шарада
Для упражнения детей;
Где первое - рожденье! где второе -
Ужасный ряд забот и муки тайных ран,
Где смерть - последнее, а целое - обман!"

- "Здесь, ребята, закон - тайга. Но люди и здесь живут"

- "Работа - она как палка, конц в ней два: для людей делаешь - качество дай, для начальника делаешь - дай показуху"

- "Не табака ему было жалко, а прерванной мысли. Он курил, чтобы возубдить в себе сильную мысль и дать ей найти что-то"

- "Человек - дороже золота"

- "Двести грамм жизнью правят. На двести граммах Беломорканал построен"

- "Так много искусства, что уже и не искусство. Перец и мак вместо хлеба насущного! И потом же гнуснейшая политическая идея - оправдание единоличной тирании. Глумление над памятью трех поколений русской интеллигенции!"

- "Но слушайте, искусство - это не ЧТО, а КАК"

- "Запасливый лучше богатого"

- "Вздохнул я и открылся: из такого я, девушки, вагона, что вам жить, а мне умирать..."

- "Смирный - в бригаде клад"

- "Пожале-ет вас батька усатый! Он брату родному не поверит, не то что вам, лопухам!"

- "Потому, Алешка, что молитвы те, как заявления, или не доходят, или "в жалобе отказать"

- "Изо всего русского я теперь больше всего люблю русскую детскость Пушкина и Чехова, их застенчивую неозабоченность насчет таких громких вещей, как конечные цели человечества и их собственное спасение. Во всем этом хорошо разбирались и они, но куда им было до таких нескромностей, - не до того и не по чину! Гоголь, Толстой, Достоевский готовились к смерти, беспокоились, искали смысла, подводили итоги, а эти до конца были отвлечены текущими частностями артистического призвания,и за их чередованием незаметно прожили жизнь, как такую же личную, никого не касающуюся частность, и теперь эта частность оказывается общим делом и подобно снятым с дерева дозревающим яблокам сама доходит в преемственности, наливаясь все большею сладостью и смыслом"

"И соловей, весны любовник, Поет всю ночь.

Цветет шиповник.
Почему - любовник? Вообще говоря, эпитет естественный, уместный. Действительно - любовник. Кроме того - рифма к слову "шиповник". Но звуковым образом не сказался ли также былинный "соловей-разбойник"?
В былине он называется Соловей-разбойник, Одихмантьев сын. Как хорошо про него говорится!"

- "Люди, когда-то освободившие человечество от ига идолопоклонства и теперь в таком множестве посвятившие себя освобождению его от социального зла, бессильны освободиться от самих себя, от верности отжившему допотопному наименованию, потерявшему значение, не могут подняться над собою и бесследно раствориться среди остальных, религиозные основы которых они сами заложили и которые были бы им так близки, если бы они их лучше знали."

- "Наверное, гонения и преследования обязывают к этой бесполезной и гибельной позе, к этой стыдливой, приносящей одни бедствия, самоотверженной обособленности, но есть в этом и внутреннее одряхление, историческая многовековая усталость.Я не люблю их иронического самоподбадривания, будничной бедности понятий, несмелого воображения. Это раздражает, как разговоры стариков о старости и больных о болезни."

- "Да разве так потерянной любви добиваются? Камни надо ворочать для этого, горы двигать, землю рыть!"

- "В делах житейских эти предприимчивые, уверенные в себе, повелительные люди незаменимы. В делах сердечных петушащееся усатое мужское самодовольство отвратительно."

- "По-моему философия должна быть скупою приправой к искусству ижизни. Заниматься ею одною так же странно, как есть один хрен."

- "Я сказала бы, что человек состоит из двух частей. Из Бога и работы. Развитие человеческого духа распадается на огромной продолжительности отдельные работы. Они осуществлялись поколениями и следовали одна за другою"

- "Дети искренни без стеснения и нестыдятся правды, а мы из боязни показаться отсталыми готовы предать самое дорогое, хвалим отталкивающее и поддакиваем непонятному"

- "Наша нервная система не пустой звук, не выдумка. Она - состоящее из волокон физическое тело. Наша душа занимает местов пространстве и помещается в нас, как зубы во рту. Ее нельзя без конца насиловать безнаказанно"

- " О чем мы спорим? Подобные истины просто стыдно доказывать. Это азбука. Основная толща народа веками вела немыслимое существование. Возьмите любой учебник истории. Как бы это ни называлось, феодализм или крепостное право или капитализм и фабричная промышленность, все равно неестественность и несправедливость такого порядка давно замечена, и давно подготовлен переворот, который выведет народ к свету и поставит на свое место"

- "Я тоже думаю, что России суждено стать первым за существование мира царством социализма. Когда это случится, оно надолго оглушит нас, и, очнувшись, мы уже больше не вернем утраченной памяти. Мы забудем часть прошлого и не будем искать небывалому объяснения. Наставший порядок обступит нас с привычностью леса на горизонте или облаков над головой. Он окружит нас отовсюду. Не будет ничего другого"

- "А есть ли сейчас в России действительность? По-моему, ее так запугали, что она скрывается"

- "Где это сказано, что человек, рассуждающий по-марксистски, должен размазнею быть и слюни распускать? Марксизм - положительная наука, учение о действительности, философия исторической обстановки"

- "Марксизм и наука? Спорить об это с человеком мало знакомым по меньшей мере неосмотрительно. Но куда ни шло. Марксизм слишком плохо владеет собой, чтоб быть наукою. Науки бывают уравновешеннее. Марксизм и объективность? Я не знаю течения, более обособившегося в себе и далекого от фактов, чем марксизм. Каждый озабочен проверкою себя на опыте, а люди власти ради басни о собственной непогрешимости всеми силами отворачиваются от правды. Политика ничего не говорит мне. Я не люблю людей, безразличных к истине"

- "Сколько мыслей проходит через сознание, сколько нового передумаешь, пока руки заняты мускульной, телесной, черной или плотничьей работой; пока ставишь себе разумные, физически разрешимые задачи, вознаграждающие за исполнение радостью и удачей; пока шесть часов кряду тешешь что-нибудь топором или копаешь землю под открытым небом, обжигающим тебя своим благодатным дыханием. И то, что эти мысли, догадки и сближения не заносятся на бумагу, а забываются во всей их попутной мимолетности, не потеря, а приобретение"

- "Давнишняя мысль моя, что искусство не название разряда илиобласти, обнимающей необозримое множество понятий иразветвляющихся явлений, но наоборот, нечто узкое и сосредоточенное, обозначение начала, входящего в составхудожественного произведения, название примененной в нем силы или разработанной истины. И мне искусство никогда не казалось предметом или стороною формы, но скорее таинственной и скрытой частью содержания. Мне это ясно, как день, я это чувствую всеми своими фибрами, но как выразить и сформулировать эту мысль?"

- "Произведения говорят многим: темами, положениями, сюжетами, героями. Но больше всего говорят они присутствием содержащегося в них искусства. Присутствие искусства на страницах "Преступления и наказания" потрясает больше, чем преступление Раскольникова."

- "Искусство первобытное, египетское, греческое, наше, это, наверное, на протяжении многих тысячелетий одно и то же, в единственном числе остающееся искусство. Это какая-то мысль, какое-то утверждение о жизни, по всеохватывающей своей широте на отдельные слова не разложимое, и когда крупица этой силы входит в состав какой-нибудь более сложной смеси, примесь искусства перевешивает значение всего остального и оказывается сутью, душой и основой изображенного"

- "Каждый родится Фаустом, чтобы все обнять, все испытать, все выразить. О том, чтобы Фаусту быть ученым, позаботились ошибки предшественников и современников. Шаг вперед в науке делается по закону отталкивания, с опровержения царящих заблуждений и ложных теорий."

- "О том, чтобы Фаусту быть художником, позаботились заразительные примеры учителей. Шаг вперед в искусстве делается по закону притяжения, с подражания, следования и поклонения любимым предтечам."

- "Что же мешает мне служить, лечить и писать? Я думаю, не лишения и скитания, не неустойчивость и частые перемены, а господствующий в наши дни дух трескучей фразы, получивший такое распространение, - вот это самое: заря грядущего, построение нового мира, светочи человечества. Послушать это, и по началу кажется, - какая широта фантазии, какое богатство! А на деле оно именно и высокопарно по недостатку дарования".

- "Всякая стадность - прибежище неодаренности, все равно верность ли это Соловьеву, или Канту, или Марксу. Истину ищут только одиночки и порывают со всеми, кто любит ее недостаточно. Есть ли что-нибудь на свете, что заслуживало бы верности?"

- "Смерть нависла...Может каждую минуту...Зуб идешь рвать, боишься, больно, готовишься...А тут не зуб, всю, всю тебя, всю жизнь... хруп, и вон, как щипцами... А что это такое?.. Никто не знает..."

- "Будет ли вам больно, ощущает ли ткань свой распад? То есть, другими словами, что будет с вашим сознанием? Но что такое сознание? Рассмотрим. Сознательно желать уснуть - верная бессонница, сознательная попытка вчувствоваться в работу собственного пищеварения - верное расстройство его иннервации. Сознание яд, средство самоотравления для субъекта, применяющего его на самом себе. Сознание - свет, бьющий наружу, сознание освещает перед нами дорогу, чтоб не споткнуться. Сознание - это зажженные фары впереди идущего паровоза. Обратите их светом внутрь, и случится катастрофа."

- "Не о чем беспокоиться. Смерти нет. Смерть не по нашей части. А вот вы сказали: талант, это другое дело, это наше, это открыто нам. А талант - в высшем широчайшем понятии есть дар жизни."

- "Смерти не будет, говорит Иоанн Богослов, и вы послушайте простоту его аргументации. Смерти не будет, потому что прежнее прошло. Это почти как: смерти не будет, потому что это уже видали, это старо и надоело, а теперь требуется новое, а новое есть жизнь вечная"

- "Теперь фронт наводнен корреспондентами и журналистами. Записывают "наблюдения", изречения народной мудрости, обходят раненых, строят новую теорию народной души. Это своего рода новый Даль, такой же выдуманный, лингвистическая графомания словесного недержания. Это один тип. А есть еще другой. Отрывистая речь, "штрихи и сценки", скептицизм, мизантропия"

- "Однако почему он обижается на пушку? Какая странная претензия требовать от пушки разнообразия! Отчего вместо пушки лучше не удивится он самому себе, изо дня в день стреляющему перечислениями, запятыми и фразами, отчего не прекратит стрельбы журнальным человеколюбием, торопливым, как прыжки блохи? Как он не понимает, что это он, а не пушка, должен быть новым и не повторяться, что из блокнотного накапливания большого количества бессмыслицы никогда не может получиться смысла, что фактов нет, пока человек не внес в них чего то своего, какой-то доли вольничающего человеческого гения, какой то сказки"

- "Что такое народ? Надо ли нянчиться с ним и не больше ли делает для него тот. кто, не думая о нем, самою красотой и торжеством своих дел увлекает его за собой во всенародность и, прославив, увековечивает?"

- "Вспомним Евангелие. Что оно говорило на эту тему? Во-первых, оно не было утверждением: так-то, мол, и так-то. Оно было предложением наивным и несмелым. Оно предполагало: хотите существовать по-новому, как не бывало, хотите блаженства духа? И все приняли предложение, захваченные на тысячелетия. <...>"

- " Вы подумайте, какое сейчас время! И мы с вами живем в эти дни! Ведь только раз в вечность случается такая небывальщина. Подумайте: со всей России сорвало крышу, и мы со всем народом очутились под открытым небом. И некому за нами подглядывать. Свобода! Настоящая, не на словах и в требованиях, а с неба свалившаяся, сверх ожидания. Свобода по нечаянности, по недоразумению. И как все растерянно-огромны! Вы заметили? Как будто каждый подавлен самим собою, своим открывшимся богатырством"

- "Половину сделала война, остальное довершила революция. Война была искусственным перерывом жизни, точно существование можно на время отсрочить (какая бессмыслица!). Революция вырвалась против воли, как слишком долго задержанный вздох. Каждый ожил, переродился, у всех превращения, перевороты. Можно было бы сказать: с каждым случилось по две революции, одна своя, личная, а другая общая. Мне кажется, социализм - это море, в которое должны ручьями влиться все эти свои, отдельные революции, море жизни, море самобытности. Море жизни, сказал я, той жизни, которую можно видеть на картинах жизни гениализированной, жизни, творчески обогащенной. Но теперь люди решили испытать ее не в книгах, а на себе, не в отвлечении, а на практике"

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Что может хотеться этакой глыбе?
А глыбе многое хочется!

Будет любовь или нет?
Какая -
большая или крошечная?
Откуда большая у тела такого:
должно быть, маленький,
смирный любеночек.
Она шарахается автомобильных гудков.
Любит звоночки коночек.

Эй!
Господа!
Любители
святотатств,
преступлений,
боен, -
а самое страшное
видели -
лицо мое,
когда
я
абсолютно спокоен?

и чувствую -
"я"
для меня мало.
Кто-то из меня вырывается упрямо.

Я знаю -
гвоздь у меня в сапоге
кошмарней, чем фантазия у Гете!

Я с сердцем ни разу до мая не дожили,
а в прожитой жизни
лишь сотый апрель есть.

Вселенная спит,
положив на лапу
с клещами звезд огромное ухо.

- "Быть оригинальным - это значит как-то выделиться среди других. Следовательно, быть оригинальным - это нарушить равенство.."

- "Свобода и преступление так же неразрывно связаны между собой, как...ну, как движение аэро и его скорость: скорость аэро=0, и он не движется, свобода человека=0, и он не совершает преступлений".

- "Единственное средство избавить человека от преступлений - это избавить его от свободы".

- "Стены - это основа всякого человеческого".

- "Быстро уничтожить немногих - разумней, чем дать возможность многим губить себя" - и вырождение и так далее. Это до непристойности верно".

- "Мы помогли Богу окончательно одолеть диавола - это ведь он толкнул людей нарушить запрет и вкусить пагубной свободы, он - змий ехидный. А мы сапожищем на головку ему - тррах! И готово: опять рай. И мы снова простодушны, невинны, как Адам и Ева. Никакой этой путаницы о добре и зле: все очень просто, райски, детски, просто".

- "Таблица умножения мудрее, абсолютнее Древнего Бога: она никогда - понимаете: никогда - не ошибается. И нет счастливее цифр, живущих по стройным вечным законам таблицы умножения. Ни колебаний, ни заблуждений. Истина - одна, и истинный путь - один; и эта истина - дважды два, и этот истинный путь - четыре. И разве не абсурдом было бы, если бы эти счастливо, идеально перемноженные двойки - стали думать о какой-то свободе, т.е. ясно - об ошибке?".

- "Мы из влюбленного шепота воли - добыли электричество, из брызжущего бешеной пеной зверя - мы сделали домашнее животное: и точно так же у нас приручена и сделана когда-то дикая стихия поэзии. Теперь поэзия - государственная служба, поэзия- полезность".

- "Боишься - потому что это сильнее тебя, ненавидишь - потому что боишься, любишь - потому что не можешь покорить это себе. Ведь только и можно любить непокорное".

- "Почему? А почему у нас нет перьев, не крыльев - одни только лопаточные кости - фундамент для крыльев?"

- "Нож - был гильотиной, нож универсальный способ разрешить все узлы, и по острию ножа идет путь парадоксов - единственно достойный бесстрашного ума путь..."

- "Homo sapiens - только тогда человек в полном смысле этого слова, когда в его грамматике совершенно нет вопросительных знаков, но лишь одни восклицательные, запятые и точки".

- "Настоящий врач начинает лечить еще здорового человека, такого, какой заболеет еще только завтра, послезавтра, через неделю".

- "Каким безобразным орудием был древний кнут - и сколько красоты..."

- "Смирение - добродетель, а гордыня - порок, и что "МЫ" - от Бога, а "Я" - от диавола".

- "Но разве цветение не болезнь? Разве не больно, когда лопается почка? И не думаете ли вы, что сперматозоид - страшнейший из микробов?"

- "Если бы человеческую глупость хололи и воспитывали веками так же, как ум, может быть, из нее получилось бы нечто необычайно драгоценное".

- "Отсюда, если через "Л" обозначим Любовь, а через "С" Смерть, то Л=f(С), то есть любовь и смерть..."

- "Кому же непонятно, что болевые - отрицательные слагаемые уменьшают ту сумму, которую мы называем счастьем".

- "Человек - как роман: до самой последней страницы не знаешь, чем кончится. Иначе не стоило бы и читать".

- "А какую же ты хочешь последнюю революцию? Последней - нет, революции - бесконечны".

- "Дети - единственно смелые философы. И смелые философы - непременно дети. Именно так, как дети, всегда и надо: а что дальше?"

- " Бесконечности нет. Если мир бесконечен, то средняя плотность материи в нем должна быть равна нулю. А так как она не нуль, - это мы знаем, - то, следовательно, Вселенная - конечна, она сферической формы и квадрат вселенского радиуса, y квадрат=средней плотности, умноженной на...Вот мне только и надо - подсчитать числовой коэффициент, и тогда...Вы понимаете: все конечно, все просто, все - вычисляемо; и тогда мы победим философски, - понимаете?"

"Любовь не есть простая эпизода в нашей жизни. Разум наш противоречит сердцу и не убеждает оного. - Женщины никогда не бывают так сильны, как когда они вооружаются слабостью. - Женщину мы обожаем за то, что она владычествует над нашей мечтой идеальной. - Тщеславие выбирает, истинная любовь не выбирает. - Женщина прекрасная должна занимать вторую ступень; первая принадлежит женщине милой. Сия-то делается владычицей нашего сердца: прежде нежели мы отдадим о ней отчет сами себе, сердце наше делается невольником любви навеки..."

Тебе сердца любивших скажут:
"В преданьях сладостных живи!"
И внукам, правнукам покажут
Сию Грамматику любви.

"All art is quite useless"(C) O.Wilde