‘The Love that dare not speak its name’ in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect…It is in this century misunderstood…and on account of it I am placed where I am now.
– Oscar Wilde
During his trial on charges of indecency and sodomy in April 1895
