“There is no such thing as good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral- immoral from a scientific point of view.”

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”

“The basis of every scandal is immoral certainty.”

“The public is largely influenced by the look of a book. So are we all. It is the only artistic thing about the public.”

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

“From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type.”

“There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtures are not real to him. His sins, if there are such thing as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.”