Lord Henry Wotton Quotes

There is something to me quite beautiful about her death. I am glad I am living in a century when such wonders happen. They make one believe in the reality of the things we all play with, such as romance, passion, and love.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 8. Lord Henry is really impressed by Sibyl’s act of suicide. He is trying to persuade Dorian not to wallow in sadness and guilt, but instead to view Sibyl’s suicide as a beautiful and the ultimate artistic act of deathless love for him.

But you must think of that lonely death in the tawdry dressing-room simply as a strange lurid fragment from some Jacobean tragedy…The girl never really lived, and so she has never really died. To you at least she was always a dream, a phantom that flitted through Shakespeare’s plays and left them lovelier for its presence, a reed through which Shakespeare’s music sounded richer and more full of joy. The moment she touched actual life, she marred it, and it marred her, and so she passed away. Mourn for Ophelia, if you like. Put ashes on your head because Cordelia was strangled. Cry out against Heaven because the daughter of Brabantio died. But don’t waste your tears over Sibyl Vane. She was less real than they are.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 8. In his attempt to comfort Dorian after Sibyl’s death, Lord Henry creates an alternative reality. Sibyl only existed in plays and the dramatic art of theater, he says. She never really lived and so she hasn’t really died, he rationalizes in his replacement of reality. Henry portrays Sibyl as too innocent for real life, for when she touched it, it marred and she died. Henry is not emotionally moved by Sibyl’s death and there is a callous tone when he speaks about it here.

"Life has everything in store for you, Dorian. There is nothing that you, with your extraordinary good looks, will not be able to do."
"But suppose, Harry, I became haggard, and old, and wrinkled? What then?"
"Ah, then," said Lord Henry, rising to go, "then, my dear Dorian, you would have to fight for your victories. As it is, they are brought to you. No, you must keep your good looks. We live in an age that reads too much to be wise, and that thinks too much to be beautiful. We cannot spare you."

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 8. Dorian’s narcassism comes to the fore here when Lord Henry spells out the endless possibilities ahead for him because of his good looks. Dorian worries about losing that bloom of youth and becoming old and haggard.

I am afraid that women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 8. Lord Henry continues his toxic influence on Dorian, sharing with him more of his outrageously misogynistic views and inappropriate comments on women, which no woman could possibly agree with. He sees them as loving to be dominated, slaves to men, and actually appreciating cruelty. This is what one online book reviewer Caroline Asgard says of this passage on her Obscura Undead blog: "One quote that really stood out to me which I found disgusting, obviously said by Henry. This really shows you what a disgusting guy he is, and why Dorian turned out the way he did."

"Dorian, this is horrible! Something has changed you completely. You look exactly the same wonderful boy who, day after day, used to come down to my studio to sit for his picture. But you were simple, natural, and affectionate then. You were the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now, I don’t know what has come over you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Harry’s influence. I see that."
The lad flushed up and, going to the window, looked out for a few moments on the green, flickering, sun-lashed garden. "I owe a great deal to Harry, Basil," he said at last, "more than I owe to you. You only taught me to be vain."
"Well, I am punished for that, Dorian – or shall be some day."

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. Basil notices that Dorian has changed from the simple and unspoiled young man who used to come to sit in his studio for his picture. He blames Dorian’s transition to someone who speaks without heart or pity on the bad influence of Lord Henry. Dorian replies that Basil has taught him to be vain. To which Basil ominously says that he will be punished for that some day. This foreshadows that Dorian will later kill his friend when a horrified Basil sees in the portrait the depravity of soul that has overtaken the once innocent and beautiful Dorian.

To become the spectator of one’s own life, as Harry says, is to escape the suffering of life. I know you are surprised at my talking to you like this. You have not realized how I have developed. I was a schoolboy when you knew me. I am a man now. I have new passions, new thoughts, new ideas. I am different, but you must not like me less. I am changed, but you must always be my friend. Of course, I am very fond of Harry. But I know that you are better than he is. You are not stronger – you are too much afraid of life – but you are better. And how happy we used to be together! Don’t leave me, Basil, and don’t quarrel with me. I am what I am. There is nothing more to be said.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. Dorian wishes to be the spectator of his own life and review his experiences and impressions like you assess a work of art. He admits to Basil that he is a changed man. But is it for the better? We think not. He speaks of indulging his "new passions, new thoughts, new ideas" brought about under the influence of self-proclaimed hedonist and unremitting pleasure seeker Lord Henry. In the new Dorian there are few signs of guilt or self-awareness or a conscience at work. He will be a spectator of his own sins as he watches them manifest themselves in the changing face of Basil’s portrait of him. Appealing to Basil to always remain his friend, he compares him with Lord Henry and tells him that he is too afraid of life. This is rather ironic, as Dorian will kill his friend Basil with a knife of Chapter 20.

Harry spends his days in saying what is incredible and his evenings in doing what is improbable. Just the sort of life I would like to lead. But still I don’t think I would go to Harry if I were in trouble. I would sooner go to you, Basil.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. Dorian loves Lord Henry’s verbal fluency and philosophizing, but Basil is his special friend. Or so he claims. The irony in Dorian’s statement that he would turn to Basil in times of trouble will become very apparent as the novel progresses. For he grows to hate Basil and extinguishes the life of his friend.

Dorian Gray drew a long breath. The colour came back to his cheeks, and a smile played about his lips. The peril was over. He was safe for the time. Yet he could not help feeling infinite pity for the painter who had just made this strange confession to him, and wondered if he himself would ever be so dominated by the personality of a friend. Lord Henry had the charm of being very dangerous. But that was all. He was too clever and too cynical to be really fond of. Would there ever be some one who would fill him with a strange idolatry? Was that one of the things that life had in store?

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. When Basil confesses the reason that he refused to exhibit Dorian’s picture – he worshipped the beautiful young man – Dorian is at once intrigued and filled with pity for his friend. He labels Basil’s infatuation with him a "strange idolatry" and wonders if he would ever feel the same way towards a friend. Lord Henry is immediately ruled out because Dorian thinks that he is too clever and cynical and clever to be really fond of.

Yes: there was to be, as Lord Henry had prophesied, a new Hedonism that was to re-create life, and to save it from that harsh, uncomely puritanism that is having, in our own day, its curious revival. It was to have its service of the intellect, certainly; yet it was never to accept any theory or system that would involve the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience. Its aim, indeed, was to be experience itself, and not the fruits of experience, sweet or bitter as they might be. Of the asceticism that deadens the senses, as of the vulgar profligacy that dulls them, it was to know nothing. But it was to teach man to concentrate himself upon the moments of a life that is itself but a moment.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 11. Dorian has fallen completely under the spell of Lord Henry’s hedonism. He wants to live a hedonistic lifestyle and embrace the worship of the senses, as taught to him by the silver-tongued Henry. Every kind of "passionate experience" is now to be sought out by Dorian in a rejection of the morality of the day. Henry’s "new Hedonism" will recreate life and save it from the harsh puritanism that is on the rise, Dorian believes.

She is still décolletée…and when she is in a very smart gown she looks like an edition de luxe of a bad French novel.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 15. Lord Henry is speaking to Lady Narborough about Dorian’s friend the infamous Madame de Ferrol. The passage continues with Henry’s sparkling dialogue: "She is really wonderful, and full of surprises. Her capacity for family affection is extraordinary. When her third husband died, her hair turned quite gold from grief."

She is very clever, too clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness. It is the feet of clay that make the gold of the image precious. Her feet are very pretty, but they are not feet of clay. White porcelain feet, if you like. They have been through fire, and what fire does not destroy, it hardens. She has had experiences.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 15. Lord Henry makes this comment about the beautiful Duchess of Monmouth, who is smitten with Dorian and has been invited by him to a party that he is hosting. This is typical of Henry’s disdainful view of women in general. Henry likes women to be vulnerable with "feet of clay" and not "too clever." Using two decorative arts metaphors he describes the Duchess as having white porcelain feet rather than feet of clay, so she is hardened by her experiences.

He atones for being occasionally somewhat overdressed by being always absolutely over-educated. He is a very modern type.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 15. In Lord Henry’s comment on Lord Grotrian, it’s clear that dress and appearance matters to Henry and education matters even more. Henry is responding to Dorian announcing that he is inviting Grotrian to a party he is hosting. He finds Dorian’s guest charming and likes him, but says that a great many people don’t.

It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words…The man who would call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 17. Wilde was a master wordsmith who liked to dazzle people with his brilliant wit and wordplay. Lord Henry is the character in the novel who most speaks like the author and, also like Wilde, often talks in aphorisms. Wilde once said that Lord Henry was "what the world thinks me." The sophisticated Henry makes clear in this passage that has no time for plain speaking and the unlovely words of other people. He prefers "lovely names" to be given to things and offers us a witty epigram about a spade to press home his point.
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