Ten Quotes from the First Five Chapters of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Ten Quotes from the First Five Chapters of The Picture of Dorian Gray

1. “There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. […] Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are — my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray’s good looks — we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly” (5-6)
2. “It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that Genius lasts longer than Beauty” (14). 
3. “but music was not articulate. It was not a new world, but rather another chaos, that it created in us. Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! how clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?” (21)
4. “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul” (23). 
5. “How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older that this particular day of June…. If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that — for that — I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” (28). 
6. “Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic” (39).
7. “Yes, he would try to be to Dorian Gray what, without knowing it, the lad was to the painter who had fashioned the wonderful portrait. He would seek to dominate him — had already, indeed, half done so. He would make that wonderful spirit his own. There was something fascinating in this son of Love and Death” (40). 
8. “I don’t think I am likely to marry, Harry. I am too much in love. That is one of your aphorisms. I am putting it into practise, as I do everything you say” (51).
9. “You filled me with a wild desire to know everything about life. For days after I met you, something seemed to throb in my veins. As I lounged in the Park, or strolled down Picadilly, I used to look at every one who passed me, and wonder, with a mad curiosity, what sort of live they led. Some of them fascinated me. Others filled me with terror. There was an exquisite poison in the air. I had a passion for sensations….” (52).
10. “But you should not say the greatest romance of your life. You should say the first romance of your life.You will always be loved, and you will always be in love with love” (53).