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.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Preface. This highlights the novel’s themes of beauty and corruption. In the story a young man is corrupted by another who finds the ugliness inside this beautiful young man.