The Picture of Dorian Gray

"Every impulse that we stifle is a regret."

"How shallow are the arbitrary distinctions that society makes upon dress."

"The great secret of life is not to do what one wishes, but to will what one does."

"There is a great difference between a man's own life and his art."

"Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things."

"The artist is the lover of nature; therefore he is her slave and her master."

"I have not denied anything to myself. I am quite frank about my own nature."

"The mask can be a curse as well as a blessing."

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art."

"Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me."

"I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous."

"If he had done these things, he himself, bit by bit, and day by day, the true nature of the acting would have been revealed."

"I wonder if we understand what we are at, when we pray."

"I cannot give you an answer to-night. It is too late to-night."

"The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists."

"I am dying of ennui. Perhaps you know the cure for it, Mr. Gray."

"I suppose that when a man has found out that he can do anything, he's not able to understand the reasons or excuses of other people's shortcomings."

"One can always recognize women who trust their husbands. They look so thoroughly unhappy."

"I wonder what sort of lives you fellows lead."

"The soul is a terrible reality. It can be bought, and sold, and bartered away."

"What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

"I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions."

"The mutability of all human things should teach us not to feel too secure."

"It is what you are that matters, not what you look like."

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."

"Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!"

"Words! Mere words! How terrible they are! How clear, and vivid, and cruel!"

"Why is it that one runs to one's ruin because one runs away from it?"

"I sometimes think, Harry, that there are only two eras of any importance in the world's history."

"It has never occurred to you, Dorian, that your refusal of my requests has much to do with the way you treat me now?"