Quotes about Society

There is something very morbid about modern sympathy with pain.

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination.When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

Girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right.

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.

The husbands of very beautiful women belong to the criminal classes

Each class would have preached the importance of those virtues, for whose exercise there was no necessity in their own lives.

There are only two ways, as you know, of becoming civilized. One is by being cultured, the other is by being corrupt.

Marriage is hardly a thing that one can do now and then, Harry. Except in America, rejoined Lord Henry, languidly.

In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public.  Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.

People used to say of me that I was too individualistic. I must be far more of an individualist than ever I was. I must get far more out of myself than ever I got, and ask far less of the world than ever I asked. Indeed, my ruin came not from too great individualism of life, but from too little. The one disgraceful, unpardonable, and to all time contemptible action of my life was to allow myself to appeal to society for help and protection.

You know I am not a champion of marriage. The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless.

But you will tell me this is an inartistic age, and we are an inartistic people, and the artist suffers much in this nineteenth century of ours. Of course he does. I, of all men, am not going to deny that. But remember that there has never been an artistic age, or an artistic people since the beginning of the world. The artist has always been, and will always be, an exquisite exception.