Words Wednesday: Oscar Wilde
Today’s Words Wednesday is inspired by Oscar Wilde.
This quote comes from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1890. A brilliant wordsmith, Oscar Wilde is perhaps most known for his sharp turn of turn-of-phrase and memorable one-liners which hide a kernal of truth in a pithy joke. When The Picture of Dorian Gray was published, British reviewers were scandalized by its so-called moral impropriety, and some even suggested that Wilde be prosecuted for violating public morality. Wilde’s reply to these critics, published in the print version of the novel, has become as famous as the novel itself:
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
He ends the preface thus:
“It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. 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 immensely. All art is quite useless.”
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