Quotes from The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wonderful rocket

As part of my graduate studies in British literature, I read The Picture of Dorian Gray Gray for the first time ( ThepictureofDorianGray) Oscar Wilde's English original. Before that, I had read it twice in Russian. I will not speak here about the artistic and moral-didactic merits of this novel, but will only present a collection of famous Wilde's aphorisms and paradoxes that I have drawn from its pages. The Russian versions are taken from the classical translation of the novel by Maria Abkina - not quite successful, in my opinion, but still I will have to compare it with it. English version. However, a rare translation can convey all the linguistic and stylistic subtleties of the original ...

– There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written, that is all.
There are no moral and immoral books. There are books that are well written and badly written. That's all.

– The nineteenth-century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth-century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.
“The nineteenth century hatred of Realism is the fury of Caliban seeing himself in a mirror. The nineteenth century hatred of Romanticism is the fury of Caliban not finding his reflection in the mirror.

– We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
- You can forgive a person who does something useful, if only he does not admire it. To the one who creates the useless, the only justification is only passionate love for his creation.

– All art is quite useless.
All art is completely useless.

– The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid.
- As soon as a person begins to think, his nose stretches disproportionately, or his forehead grows, or something else spoils his face.

– you know more than you think you know, but less than you want to know.
You know more than you think, but less than you want.

– Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
– Nowadays, people know the price of everything, but they have no idea about the true value.

– 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.
– Women in the highest degree practical people. They are much more practical than us. A man at such moments often forgets to talk about marriage, and a woman always remembers this.

– I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women.
- I wanted to check my observation that usually it is not a man who proposes to a woman, but a woman who proposes to a man.

– What is marriage? An irrevocable vow.
– What is marriage? Unbreakable vow.

– There are only two kinds of people who are really everything fascinating - people who know absolutely, and people who know absolutely nothing.
- Only two kinds of people are truly interesting - those who know absolutely everything about life, and those who know nothing about it.

– Yet one has ancestors in literature, as well as in one’s own race, nearer perhaps in type and temperament, many of them, and certainly with an influence of which one is more absolutely conscious.
- But a person has ancestors not only in the family: he also has them in literature. And many of these literary ancestors, perhaps, are closer to him in type and temperament, and their influence, of course, is felt by him more strongly.

– One has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends.
We have the right to judge a person by the influence he has on others.

– Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them they will forgive us everything, even our intellects.
“Women love us for our shortcomings. If there are a fair amount of these shortcomings, they are ready to forgive us everything, even the mind.

– Every effect that one produces gives one an enemy. To be popular one must be a mediocrity.
- When a person really advances with something, he makes enemies. We have only mediocrity - the key to popularity.

– We women, as someone says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you ever love at all.
“Someone said about us [women] that we ‘love with our ears’.” And you men love with your eyes... If you ever love at all.
– Each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved.
Every time you fall in love, you love for the first time.

– The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame. Thatisall.
- The so-called "immoral" books are those that show the world its vices, that's all.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray is the most famous work Oscar Wilde. It has been translated into hundreds of languages ​​of the world, filmed more than 30 times, which indicates an undoubted interest in the novel. A large number of films based on the work, gave rise to the transformation of the replicas of the characters, the sequence of events. The book is the primary source of all subsequent variations of the famous plot. We offer you a selection of the most famous quotes from a novel by Oscar Wilde, in which there are many thoughts about life, about happiness, about love, marriage and the sincerity or falsity of people.

Many writers take years to write a great work. Oscar Wilde, on the contrary, wrote his work very quickly - in just three weeks. For the first time, an intellectually allegorical story was published in 1890 in one of the American magazines. A year later, the novel was revised and published as a separate book. In particular, in new publication a preface appeared, which became the manifesto of aestheticism, as well as 6 chapters. Some chapters from the first edition have been corrected and supplemented.

According to the plot of the novel, the artist Hallward paints a portrait of an attractive young man Dorian Gray. Having succumbed to the influence of the ideas of hedonism, Dorian does not want to succumb to time and wants to always remain young. He expresses a desire that instead of him, his portrait would grow old. Then the portrait takes on old age, it reflects all the changes of the protagonist, not only external, but also internal, which are manifested in a look, a smirk. Reading the work of Oscar Wilde, involuntarily there is a desire to look at yourself from the outside and rethink your life, make it kinder and better.

Do not attribute unhealthy tendencies to the artist: he is allowed to depict everything.

There are no boundaries for a genius.

All art is completely useless.

But what about its aesthetic role?

Youth is cheerful for no reason - this is its main charm.

Is it always necessary to look for a reason to have fun? Why can't you just live and enjoy life, have fun?

In every art there is something that lies on the surface, and a symbol.

The symbol always lies inside the creation, not everyone can see it.

You love everyone, and to love everyone is to love no one. You are all equally indifferent.

How can you love everyone when there are so many scoundrels around?

I choose beautiful people as close friends, people with a good reputation as friends, I only make smart enemies.

Then, perhaps, they have to be afraid even more ...

We can't stand people with the same flaws that we have.

Then there will simply be nothing to complement each other.

Only hopeless cretins argue.

Those who have their own point of view, and who are sure that they are right, argue.

The most common trifle acquires amazing interest when you start hiding it from people.

Trifle is degradation, how can there be interest in it?

The Greatest Sins worlds are born in the brain.

And done with the heart.

The difference between a whim and "eternal love" is that the whim lasts a little longer.

The paradox of eternal love is that it is so short.

Punctuality is the thief of time.

Punctuality is an attempt to discipline yourself.

Falling in love begins with the fact that a person deceives himself, and ends with the fact that he deceives another.

Is love also a complete lie?

The only way get rid of temptation - give in to it.

Then you have to get rid of either shame or remorse.

I love the stage, everything on it is much more true than in life.

On the stage, everyone plays a role, but in life everyone wears a mask.

Women inspire us to great things, but always prevent us from doing them.

It's the inability to see things through to the end and the lack of purposefulness that get in the way, not the women.

To be good means to live in harmony with oneself.

It means to be not only good, but also happy.

In essence, art is a mirror that reflects the one who looks into it.

Every creation is a reflection of the soul of its creator.

Men marry out of fatigue, women marry out of curiosity. Both of them are disappointed.

Are there exceptions in marriages?

I don't think I'll ever get married. I'm too in love.

Falling in love is an attempt to protect yourself from everyday life and gray everyday life in marriage.

Women in life are wonderful actresses.

Women are rarely sincere, they always have to portray something.

The beauty of the past is that it is the past.

If the past was good, then the fact that it is already past is not a charm, but a whole tragedy.

Her outfits looked like they were conceived in a fit of madness and worn in a storm.

In my opinion, this is how most outfits look now.

To regain youth, one has only to repeat all its follies.

And where do you get the strength to repeat all this?

Optimism is based on pure fear.

Fear of admitting that something might go wrong.

I proclaim the truths of the future.
- And I prefer the delusions of the present.

It is better to make a mistake in the present than to confidently prove something that does not depend on us at all.

A woman is ready to flirt with anyone as long as others pay attention to it.

Flirting is always a public game.

The tragedy of old age is not that a person grows old, but that he remains young in soul.

The tragedy of old age lies in the mismatch physical abilities mental impulses.

AT real world facts sinners are not punished, the righteous are not rewarded. Success comes to the strong, failure to the weak. That's all.

And in general, there are many injustices in the real world.

Women are not geniuses. They are a decorative floor. They have nothing to say to the world, but they speak - and they speak sweetly.

Women are progeny, aren't they geniuses?

I never approve or condemn anything - this is the most ridiculous approach to life.

This is indifference to life.

Love feeds on repetition, and only repetition turns mere desire into art. Moreover, every time you fall in love, you love for the first time. The object of passion changes, but the passion remains the one and only. Change only makes it stronger. Life gives a person best case just one great moment, and the secret of happiness is to experience this great moment as often as possible.
"Even if it hurts you badly?"
Yes, especially when it hurts you.

Is it that in order to be constantly happy, you need to fall in love often?

Women endure grief more easily than men, that's how they are created! They live only by feelings, they are only busy with them.

Why just feelings? Also with her looks...

As children, we love our parents. As adults, we judge them. And sometimes we forgive them.

Parents are not judged.

The main harm of marriage is that it corrodes selfishness from a person. And unselfish people are colorless, they lose their individuality.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde. Philosophical novel with gothic elements. It has been filmed many times.

And I never approve or condemn anything - this is the most ridiculous approach to life.
To be good means to live in harmony with oneself.
I choose beautiful people as close friends, people with a good reputation as friends, I only make smart enemies.
As children, we love our parents. As adults, we judge them. And sometimes we forgive them.

In our age, only useless things are necessary for a person.
Nowadays, people know the price of everything, but they do not know how to appreciate anything.
Optimism is based on pure fear.
In joy, as in all pleasure, there is almost always something cruel.
In the real world of facts, the sinners are not punished, the righteous are not rewarded. Success comes to the strong, failure to the weak. That's all.
There is a kind of voluptuousness in self-flagellation. And when we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has the right to blame us anymore.
In essence, Art is a mirror that reflects the one who looks into it.
The greatest sins of the world are born in the brain.
Falling in love begins with the fact that a person deceives himself, and ends with the fact that he deceives another.
In every art there is something that lies on the surface, and a symbol.
I don't think I'll ever get married. I'm too in love.
The beauty of the past is that it is the past.
All art is completely useless.
The highest duty is a duty to oneself.
Genius is undoubtedly more durable than Beauty.
The main harm of marriage is that it corrodes selfishness from a person. And unselfish people are colorless, they lose their individuality.
The details are always banal.
Soul the best thing to treat with sensations, and only the soul heals from sensations.
The only way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it.
There are sins that are sweeter to remember than to commit - a kind of victory that quenches not so much passion as pride, and amuses the soul more than they have ever amused and are able to amuse the senses.
A woman is ready to flirt with anyone as long as others pay attention to it.
Women in life are wonderful actresses.
Women inspire us to great things, but always prevent us from doing them.
Women love flaws. If there are a fair amount of these shortcomings, they are ready to forgive us everything, even the mind ...
Women are not geniuses. They are a decorative floor. They have nothing to say to the world, but they speak - and they speak sweetly.
Sometimes what we consider dead does not want to die for a long time.
Everyone lives as he wants, and pays for it himself.
Love feeds on repetition, and only repetition turns mere desire into art. Moreover, every time you fall in love, you love for the first time. The object of passion changes, but the passion remains the one and only. Change only makes it stronger. Life gives a person at best only one great moment, and the secret of happiness is to experience this great moment as often as possible.
I love the stage, everything on it is much more true than in life.
People interest me more than their principles, and the most interesting thing is people without principles.
The difference between a whim and "eternal love" is that the whim lasts a little longer.
There are many things we would willingly give up if we were not afraid that someone else would pick them up.
You can forgive a person who does something useful, as long as he does not admire it. To the one who creates the useless, the only justification is only passionate love for his creation. Youth is cheerful for no reason - this is its main charm.
Men marry out of fatigue, women marry out of curiosity. Both of them are disappointed.
We can't stand people with the same flaws that we have.

We attribute to our loved ones those virtues from which we can profit ourselves, and imagine that we do this out of generosity.
Do not attribute unhealthy tendencies to the artist: he is allowed to depict everything.
It is not bad if friendship begins with laughter, and it is best if it ends with it.
You should never do anything that you can't talk to people about after dinner...
On Lord Henry's wife: "Her outfits looked like they were conceived in a fit of madness and worn in a storm."
True beauty disappears where spirituality appears.
The true secret of life lies in the visible, and not in the hidden...
Punctuality is the thief of time.
Religion is a common surrogate for faith.
The most ordinary trifle acquires surprising interest as soon as you begin to hide it from people.
The most absurd deeds a person always performs out of noble motives.
Conscience is a decent name for cowardice.
Conscience and cowardice are essentially one and the same.
Only hopeless cretins argue.
Fate does not send messengers to us - for this she is wise enough or cruel enough.
The tragedy of old age is not that a person grows old, but that he remains young in soul.
You love everyone, and to love everyone is to love no one. You are all equally indifferent.
Good influence does not exist. Any influence is in itself immoral.
Man is capable of destroying his own soul.
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses his own soul.
To regain youth, one has only to repeat all its follies.
I never approve or condemn anything - this is the most ridiculous approach to life.
“I proclaim the truths of the future. - And I prefer the delusions of the present.
… I can't stand vulgar realism in literature. A man who calls a shovel a shovel should be made to work with it - that's all he's good for.

Oscar Wilde is not only a talented writer whose works of art admired or criticized them. He was an outstanding personality, famous for his wit, and many of his statements became popular expressions. Special place occupies in creativity Of course, the work may seem too cynical to some, but the writer tried to talk about that side of a person that many do not think about. Below is The Picture of Dorian Gray.

About love

Main character- the young man Dorian Gray - was too vain and proud. But Lord Henry Wotton made him so in many ways. He became interested in a handsome young man and began to seduce him with various temptations, while leading cynical and even slightly misanthropic conversations. Of course, the hero of the work could not avoid the topic of love in his conversations:

“You love everyone, and to love everyone is to love no one. You are all the same."

This is one of the most famous. Of course, one can argue with this statement, but you rarely meet a person who treats all people equally. All the same, a person will not be able to go to great lengths for all people to help or support them. Such love is superficial and simply allows people to keep in touch.

"Don't say 'the finest romance of my life'. Say better: "first".

This quote belongs to Lord Henry Wotton, and it can be explained by the fact that every person has a desire to be the one and only. This is especially true for love. Therefore, if a person wants to win the favor of a lover and his trust, you need to show him that such serious relationship were with him. Lord Henry Wotton was a good psychologist, so he was able to influence Dorian Gray.

About friendship

The main character had no friends because he put himself above others. The only one Dorian Gray listened to was Lord Henry Wotton. It was the lord who spoke to the youth on important topics, including friendship.

"It's not bad if friendship begins with laughter, and it's best if it ends with it."

A quote from a book about Dorian Gray says that friendships should not be considered permanent in a person's life. It is necessary to try so that the communication ends on a joyful note, so that only pleasant memories remain of friendship and a good idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe person is preserved.

About youth

This is perhaps one of the main themes of the book. Of course, all people want to stay young for as long as possible. different reasons. Someone is worried about appearance, someone believes that in his youth a person more possibilities while others believe that youth is the happiest time.

"Youth is the only wealth worth cherishing ... It makes kings of those who possess it."

Dorian Gray followed the advice, but it led to the destruction of his personality. Caring only about appearance, a person does not think about his own inner beauty, as a result, close people will not remain with him, and life will turn out to be empty and monotonous. The kings will be those people who take care of their inner beauty.

"And he smiled because youth is cheerful for no reason - this is her main charm."

This quote from "Dorian Gray" is different from the others: there is not an iota of cynicism in it, it simply says what makes youth so charming. Young people are carefree, rarely think about the future, being sure that it will certainly be happy. In youth, they find more reasons for joy, so it is not surprising that boys and girls often smile.

"To regain youth, one has only to repeat all its follies."

This quote from Dorian Gray shows that the protagonist's point of view is wrong. It's not about looks, it's about inner feeling person. If he remains energetic, he tries to find in everything positive sides he feels young. Sometimes it is worth doing unusual things in order to again feel the carefree and lightness inherent in young years.

About people

Lord Henry tried to show the main character that people for the most part are hypocritical, weak and envious. Their morality is built on a hidden desire to be as vicious as the lord, but foolish beliefs prevent them from doing so. But not all of his reasoning is cynical.

“When we are happy, we seem to ourselves to be good people, but not all good people happy."

This quote from "Dorian Gray" can be explained as follows: when people are happy, they think that they deserve this happiness because they are good. At the same time, such individuals become a little selfish and do not think about others. Therefore, the fact that a person feels happy is not at all an indicator that he is good. Just such a person knows how to appreciate what she has.

"Whenever a person commits stupidity, he does it from the most noble motives."

Lord Henry believed that it was because of the nobility of people that nonsense was obtained. This can be explained as follows: when a person tries too hard, he can forget what the other person really needs. And because of their excessive diligence, people do stupid things, but they do it with the best of intentions.

About public opinion

Lord Henry taught young Gray to ignore public opinion because it doesn't mean anything. He said that it is more important to live life in pleasure than to follow any moral principles.

“If it’s unpleasant when they talk about you, then it’s even worse when they don’t talk about you at all.”

This quote from "Dorian Gray" can be explained as follows: people do not discuss only uninteresting and inconspicuous personalities who do nothing. But if a person strives for something or is talented in something, he will arouse interest among others. If a person is sure that she is doing the right thing, then she does not need to pay attention to public opinion.

About life

The meaning of the book can be called a quote from Dorian Gray:

"Everyone lives as he wants and pays for it himself."

The protagonist of the work spent his life only on entertainment, while not trying to fill it with meaning. Burning life without worrying about the feelings of other people, a person will pay for it with loneliness and disappointment. But no one can impose their ideas about life on anyone.

Everyone chooses their own priorities and lives as it seems right to them. Just be aware that everything has its price. Therefore, if you are only looking for entertainment, then you should be prepared for the fact that a lot of time will be wasted. Therefore, a person should think about everything well.

Quotes from "Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde are distinguished by some cynicism and irony. You can disagree with them, but it should be noted that they have a bit worldly wisdom and philosophical reasoning.