20090917

today we quote oscar wilde

those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. this is a fault.
those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. for these there is hope. they are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.

all art is at once surface and symbol. those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

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 intensely.

all art is quite useless.


- oscar wilde, "the picture of dorian gray"

11 comments:

Anaïs said...

Ahh - the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray ...

ebba said...

love that book..

iida said...

Love love love Oscar Wilde.

Anonymous said...

ever since you cut your hair we haven't seen a single new picture of you. what's up with that?

Nidveg said...

Les Soul of Man og Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Sistnevnte er et av de fineste diktene i verden.

Takk for at du minner meg om å lese det igjen!

I V Y said...

nice!

Christine Peterson said...

I'm an artist, I appreciate the post! :)

feliciamesadieu said...

I can respect this post as well! www.sheisobsessed.blogspot.com

Kathleen said...

I love Oscar Wilde.

TheMinx said...

beautiful...that book is simply fantastic.

Te said...

I just finished reading this book for the first time recently, I love how it so often goes off into two or three pages of just random philosophising.

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