“Every effect that one produces gives one an enemy. To be popular one must be a mediocrity.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "To be popular one must be a mediocrity." by Oscar Wilde?
Oscar Wilde812
Irish writer and poet 1854–1900
Related quotes
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
"Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution" (31 March 1968)
1960s
Variant: There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.
Source: A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
Context: On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.
Context: On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. I believe today that there is a need for all people of good will to come together with a massive act of conscience and say in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "We ain't goin' study war no more." This is the challenge facing modern man.
Kyūichi Tokuda (1894–1953) Japanese politician
New Situation and the Policy of the Communist Party of Japan (1950)
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Sect. 1
1900s, Hind Swaraj (1908)
James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)
Letter to W.T. Barry http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s35.html (4 August 1822), in The Writings of James Madison (1910) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 9, p. 103; these words, using the older spelling "Governours", are inscribed to the left of the main entrance, Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building. <br class="br">1820s
Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American judge
Dissenting, Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962).
Judicial opinions
“We have one called Commodity Aesthetics, which is our section on popular culture.”
Nancy Peters (1936) American writer and publisher
"Beat Establishment: City Lights Bookstore May Be Named San Francisco Landmark", http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0006/25/sun.03.html CNN, 2000-06-25. : On book categories in City Lights bookshop. <br class="br">2000s
Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive
Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 112