“To be popular one must be a mediocrity.”

“Every effect that one produces gives one an enemy. To be popular one must be a mediocrity.”

“Like all good reputations... every effect that one produces gives one an enemy. To be popular one must be a mediocrity.”

“To be popular one must be a mediocrity.""Not with Women," said the duchess, shaking her head; "and women rule the world. I assure you we can't bear mediocrities. We women, as someone says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you ever love at all.""It seems to me that we never do anything else," murmered Dorian.”

“Genius in the popular sense has become common. (...) Rather than admire the mediocre great men over whom passersby nudge each other in awe, I venerate the young, unknown geniuses who die in their teens, their souls shattered - delicate, phosphorescent glowworms that one must see to know they really did exist.”

“And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular - but one must take it because it is right.”