“Tout portrait peint compréhensivement est un portrait de l’artiste, non du modèle.”
Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
Moderation is a fatal thing. Enough is as bad as a meal. More than enough is as good as a feast.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray), 1890
“La conscience et la lâcheté sont réellement les mêmes choses.”
Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
To define is to limit.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
What is the difference between literature and journalism? Journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.
en
, 1891
“La jeunesse est la seule chose désirable.”
Youth is the one thing worth having.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
“L'Art est tout à fait inutile.”
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
“Ceux qui essaient de conduire le peuple ne peuvent le faire qu'en suivant la foule.”
Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.
en
, 1891
“Oui, le public est d'une merveilleuse tolérance. Il pardonne tout, sauf le génie.”
De l'importance d'avoir de l'esprit
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
en
, 1891
“Je pense que la vie est une chose trop importante pour en parler sérieusement.”
I think life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
en
L'Éventail de Lady Windermere ('), 1892
There were sins whose fascination was more in the memory than in the doing of them, strange triumphs that gratified the pride more than the passions, and gave to the intellect a quickened sense of joy, greater than any joy they brought, or could ever bring, to the senses.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the cave-man had known how to laugh, History would have been different.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray), 1890
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.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
“La moralité n'est que l'attitude que nous prenons vis à vis des gens qui ne nous plaisent pas.”
Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.
en
Un mari idéal ('), 1895
“La forme la plus haute comme la plus basse de la critique est un type d'autobiographie.”
The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
“Un livre n'est point moral ou immoral. Il est bien ou mal écrit. C'est tout.”
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890
Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
en
Le Portrait de Dorian Gray ('), 1890