The Picture of Dorian Gray Quotes

I love Sibyl Vane. I want to place her on a pedestal of gold and to see the world worship the woman who is mine. What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock at it for that. Ah! don’t mock. It is an irrevocable vow that I want to take. Her trust makes me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me. I become different from what you have known me to be. I am changed, and the mere touch of Sibyl Vane’s hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 6. The love-sick Dorian makes this response to Lord Henry’s teasing him about agreeing to marriage to Sibyl. Lord Henry is a surrogate for the Devil in the way he influences Dorian towards evil. But Sibyl is the very opposite, a magnet for good against the "poisonous" ideas of Henry on hedonism, whom Dorian confesses he still finds fascinating. Dorian feels that he is being pulled in two different directions in this crucial battle between good and evil, Sibyl vs Henry. At this point Dorian has not given in completely to the dark side, and still holds onto something of his purity and innocence, but it is sadly diminishing. He is at a critical turning point, and realizes it. Which way will he go?

"To be good is to be in harmony with one’s self," he replied, touching the thin stem of his glass with his pale, fine-pointed fingers. "Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One’s own life – that is the important thing. As for the lives of one’s neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one’s moral views about them, but they are not one’s concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one’s age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality."
"But, surely, if one lives merely for one’s self, Harry, one pays a terrible price for doing so?" suggested the painter.
"Yes, we are overcharged for everything nowadays. I should fancy that the real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich."

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 6. Lord Henry makes this response when asked by Basil and Dorian what did he mean by good. Henry preaches the gospel of individualism, dismisses self-denial as something for the poor, rejects modern morality and says that beautiful sins are the privilege of the wealthy. He continues his efforts to weave his corruptive web of influence over Dorian, who just before this criticized Henry’s "poisonous" theories. The very moral Basil suggests that a person will pay a terrible price for living a completely selfish life.

I believe in this girl. Any one you love must be marvellous, and any girl that has the effect you describe must be fine and noble. To spiritualize one’s age – that is something worth doing. If this girl can give a soul to those who have lived without one, if she can create the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly, if she can strip them of their selfishness and lend them tears for sorrows that are not their own, she is worthy of all your adoration, worthy of the adoration of the world. This marriage is quite right. I did not think so at first, but I admit it now. The gods made Sibyl Vane for you. Without her you are incomplete.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian, after describing his love for Sibyl and her talent as an actress, earns a ringing endorsement from Basil for the love match. Basil is in full agreement with Dorian, saying that a girl who can through her art "give a soul to those who have lived without one" and create beauty in people with ugly lives is worthy of Dorian’s and the world’s affection. Basil is a firm believer in the ability of art to transform people’s lives.

Then the curtain rises, and you will see the girl to whom I am going to give all my life, to whom I have given everything that is good in me.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian is speaking to Basil about the immiment appearance of Sibyl Vane on stage. It is interesting that wealthy young socialite Dorian, whom Lord Henry is trying to corrupt, says that he has given all that is good in him to Sibyl. For she represents purity and goodness, just as Henry represents the absense of these.

Yet she was curiously listless. She showed no sign of joy when her eyes rested on Romeo. The few words she had to speak…with the brief dialogue that follows, were spoken in a thoroughly artificial manner. The voice was exquisite, but from that point of view of tone it was absolutely false.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Sibyl plays Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, to which Dorian has invited Henry and Basil. Dorian observes how poorly she performs her art, her performance is artificial and listless. Sibyl’s depiction of the tragic heroine in the classic tragedy about two star-crossed lovers is foreshadowing of the disaster that will strike her own love relationship with Dorian.

"Last night she was a great artist. This evening she is merely a commonplace mediocre actress."
"Don’t talk like that about any one you love, Dorian. Love is a more wonderful thing than Art."
"They are both simply forms of imitation, remarked Lord Henry."

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian is highly critical of Sibyl’s performance as Juliet. He loves the "art" that Sibyl can create and the characters she can give life to, but not Sibyl the person. So when her art fails her and she becomes mere woman, Dorian sees no worth in her. When Basil berates Dorian, holding up love as more wonderful than art, Lord Henry dismisses both as unreal and just forms of imitation.

There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating – people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. This example of paradoxical and seemingly contradictory witticism by Lord Henry is what helped make Oscar Wilde into a 19th century celebrity, one of the funniest men that has ever lived, and one of the most quoted authors in the world. Henry imparts this wisdom to Dorian, who is upset because Sibyl has performed badly in her play, and basically tells him to look on the bright side of life.

The painted scenes were my world. I knew nothing but shadows, and I thought them real. You came – oh, my beautiful love! – and you freed my soul from prison. You taught me what reality is. To-night, for the first time in my life, I saw through the hollowness, the sham, the silliness of the empty pageant in which I had always played.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Sibyl proclaims her love to Dorian after she performs poorly as Juliet, which she sees as a positive life-transforming event. She confesses that hitherto she has lived in a world of art which to her was reality. But now that she has found true love with Dorian, her acting world is just an "empty pageant." Her relationship with Dorian is her new reality and has freed her soul from "prison."

To-night, for the first time, I became conscious that the Romeo was hideous, and old, and painted, that the moonlight in the orchard was false, that the scenery was vulgar, and that the words I had to speak were unreal, were not my words, were not what I wanted to say. You had brought me something higher, something of which all art is but a reflection. You had made me understand what love really is. My love! My love! Prince Charming! Prince of life! I have grown sick of shadows. You are more to me than all art can ever be. What have I to do with the puppets of a play?

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Sibyl’s rejection of her art as "false" and "unreal" theater brings us back to the final lines in the Preface: "All art is quite useless." Now that she has found love with her real-life Romeo and "Prince Charming," she no longer wants her useless art of "shadows" and "puppets." Dorian means more to her now than art could ever be.

You have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you don’t even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvellous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian cruelly and brutally casts Sibyl aside in this hurtful, humiliating rant to her backstage after her imperfect performance as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, to which Dorian invited Basil and Lord Henry. Yet only the day before he provessed that he loved Sibyl and wanted to place her on a pedestal of gold. Dorian is showing signs of the kind of shallowness that his mentor Lord Henry is famous for – though ironically Dorian calls Sibyl shallow. This is the critical moment where we witness the start of the corruption of Dorian’s soul, a sign of the effect the malign influence of Lord Henry is having.

How little you can know of love if you say it mars your art! Without your art you are nothing.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian’s dismissive and insensitive rejection of Sibyl is nothing short of abusive. Dorian believes that Sibyl’s art is essentially her, just as he believes his beauty is what makes him what he is. Sibyl is nothing more than a living artwork to him, an object of aesthetic value, not a human being. But she is of no value to him now that she can no longer act. This is the fuller quote: "You have spoiled the romance of my life. How little you can know of love, if you say it mars your art! Without your art, you are nothing. I would have made you famous, splendid, magnificent. The world would have worshipped you, and you would have borne my name. What are you now? A third-rate actress with a pretty face."

Where he went to he hardly knew. He remembered wandering through dimly lit streets, past gaunt, black-shadowed archways and evil-looking houses. Women with hoarse voices and harsh laughter had called after him. Drunkards had reeled by, cursing and chattering to themselves like monstrous apes. He had seen grotesque children huddled upon door-steps, and heard shrieks and oaths from gloomy courts.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. When Dorian ferociously rejects Sibyl’s affections, he sinks back into the gloomy and oppressive streets of London. Vivid metaphoric word combinations and simile are used with powerful effect to convey the fearful, threatening and evil Gothic atmosphere of the city with its "monstrous" people. The dark side of London with its "black-shadowed archways" and "grotesque children" and "gloomy courts" mirrors Dorian’s own descent into darkness. His destruction of Sibyl has set him on the path to corruption.

A fit of passionate sobbing choked her. She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray, with
his beautiful eyes, looked down on her, and his chiseled lips curled in exquisite disdain. There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Both metaphor ("chiseled lips") and simile ("like a wounded thing") are used with great effect to convey the cruel disdain of Dorian and pain of the rejected Sibyl. Dorian cares nothing for her feelings and even seems to enjoy his humiliation of the girl he once loved.

As the dawn was just breaking he found himself close to Covent Garden. The darkness lifted, and, flushed with faint fires, the sky hollowed itself into a perfect pearl. Huge carts filled with nodding lilies rumbled slowly down the polished empty street.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. After Dorian’s cruel rant to Sibyl, angrily telling her that she is nothing to him, he wanders the night through the dimly lit and shadowy streets of London. Then when he enters Covent Garden the darkness lifts and the sky metaphorically becomes a pearl, reflecting a more optimistic mood and Dorian’s desire to retain his youth and beauty. The lilies here are a symbol of death – Sibyl commits suicide by poison, but Dorian doesn’t know that yet.

Finally he came back, went over to the picture, and examined it. In the dim arrested light that struggled through the cream-coloured silk blinds, the face appeared to him to be a little changed. The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth. It was certainly strange.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Following his brutal dismissal of Sibyl, Dorian examines his portait and is startled by a change in it: in the mouth there is an expression of cruelty. The portrait has become a moral metaphor of Dorian. As his soul embraces evil and corruption, so the painting will bear the burden of his growing ugliness. It has taken on a life of its own and will become both Dorian’s curse and his doppelganger. What started out seemingly as a novel of manners becomes a true Gothic novel.

The quivering, ardent sunlight showed him the lines of cruelty round the mouth as clearly as if he had been looking into a mirror after he had done some dreadful thing.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian is looking at the portrait Basil painted of him and how it is changing after he breaks Sibyl’s heart – there are lines of cruelty around the mouth. A very effective simile is used to compare the painting to a mirror of himself after he had committed a terrible wrong. The painting fulfils the role of the Gothic supernatural element in Wilde’s novel.

Suddenly there flashed across his mind what he had said in Basil Hallward’s studio the day the picture had been finished. Yes, he remembered it perfectly. He had uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain young, and the portrait grow old; that his own beauty might be untarnished, and the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins; that the painted image might be seared with the lines of suffering and thought, and that he might keep all the delicate bloom and loveliness of his then just conscious boyhood. Surely his wish had not been fulfilled? Such things were impossible. It seemed monstrous even to think of them. And, yet, there was the picture before him, with the touch of cruelty in the mouth.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. As a change in the portrait reflects his recent ugly behavior towards Sibyl, Dorian realizes that the painting is a window to his soul and will mirror who he really is inside, while outwardly he would preserve his youthful beauty. He recalls the "mad wish" he made the day Basil finished the picture, that he would remain young and the portrait grow old. His wish had been fulfilled!

Cruelty? Had he been cruel? It was the girl’s fault, not his. He had dreamed of her as a great artist, had given his love to her because he had thought her great. Then she had disappointed him. She had been shallow and unworthy. And yet a feeling of infinite regret came over him as he thought of her lying at his feet sobbing like a little child.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian reflects on his treatment of Sibyl and wonders whether he has been cruel to her. But he immediately dismisses this, takes no responsibility and puts the blame for the destruction of the relationship on Sibyl. Yet amid his callousness he momentarily finds his moral compass as a "feelings of infinite regret" comes over him at the memory of Sibyl sobbing at his feet like a child.

Besides, women were better suited to bear sorrow than men. They lived on their emotions. They only thought of their emotions. When they took lovers, it was merely to have some one with whom they could have scenes. Lord Henry had told him that, and Lord Henry knew what women were.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. In order to rationalize and justify his brutal rejection of Sibyl, Dorian invokes Lord Henry’s teachings on women. They bear sorrow better than men, live on their emotions and take lovers in order to have scenes with someone. Henry’s influence over Dorian is very apparent here. Dorian is on the way to become a Lord Henry clone.

Yet it was watching him, with its beautiful marred face and its cruel smile. Its bright hair gleamed in the early sunlight. Its blue eyes met his own. A sense of infinite pity, not for himself, but for the painted image of himself, came over him. It had altered already, and would alter more. Its gold would wither into grey. Its red and white roses would die. For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness. But he would not sin. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience. He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more – would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things. He would go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends, marry her, try to love her again. Yes, it was his duty to do so. She must have suffered more than he had. Poor child! He had been selfish and cruel to her. The fascination that she had exercised over him would return. They would be happy together. His life with her would be beautiful and pure.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian looks at his portrait, its beautiful face altered and marred with a look of cruelty. This passage represents Dorian’s loss of innocence and beginning of the moral deterioration of his soul. Sibyl has killed herself because of his brutal rejection of her, though he is not yet aware of her demise. This is another turning point in the story, as Dorian is filled with remorse about his cruelty and selfishness to her. He vows to be pure, reject sin, marry Sibyl and love her again. But this change in Dorian’s character turns out to be superficial. The influence of Lord Henry’s theories, which Dorian promises to resist in reaction to the ugliness of the portrait, will prove too much.
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