In Art, the public accept what has been, because they cannot alter it, not because they appreciate it. They swallow their classics whole, and never t… - Oscar Wilde

Il en est toujours ainsi des natures subtiles et raffinées. Il faut que leurs passions ploient ou broient, qu'elles choisissent de tuer ou de mourir. Seules ont la vie longue les peines légères et les légères amours. Les amours et les peines profondes succombent à leur propre plénitude.

As for modern Journalism, its not my business to defend it. It justifies its own existence by the great Darwinian principle of the survival of the vulgarest.

The ugly and stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live — undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They never bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Henry; my brains, such as they are — my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks — we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.