There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
Oscar Wilde · The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wit & one-liners
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are…”
- Author
- Oscar Wilde
- Work
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Year
- 1890
- Chapter / part
- The Preface
- Length
- 22 words
- Source
- Project Gutenberg eBook #174
Public domain. This passage is in the public domain. Oscar Wilde died in 1900, more than 70 years ago, and the work was first published in 1890. You can copy, print, read aloud or sell it without asking permission; a credit is kind but not required. The text is copied word for word from the Project Gutenberg edition linked here.
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I declare, after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it; but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman.
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