The Picture of Dorian Gray

This Oscar Wilde's classic tale of narcissism is rife with symbolism and classic themes. Beyond the critical approach, the story can simply be enjoyed on its own as a well-written tale of suspense and surprise. It tells of how a portrait made of the eponymous Dorian Gray is marred because of his many sins, becoming old and disfigured, while he himself remains young and perfect. The novel contains several famous epigrams; many of which appeared in his later plays. The novel thrives on the symbolism of flowers, themes from Greek Myths and timeless images drawn from Wilde's extensive knowledge of the classical world.
(Click the pix for the online version of the book)

Despite his high profile, alternative lifestyle, he was much admired by many for his talent.
Here are some of his witty quotes:

• People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately.
• The more one analyses people, the more all reasons for analysis disappear. Sooner of later one comes to that dreadful universal thing called human nature.
• The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.
• Life is never fair...And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
• Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failures.
• To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
• Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.
• To believe is very dull. To doubt is intensely engrossing. To be on the alert is to live, to be lulled into security is to die.
• Woman are meant to be loved, not to be understood.
• A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
• There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us.
• Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
• No man should have a secret from his wife; she invariably finds out.
• There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well-written or badly-written. That is all.
• A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
• Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.
• If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.