1856-1900, Irish Poet, Dramatist, Critic, Wit
Affirmation / Approval
To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
An Ideal Husband
Appearance / Form
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
in Susan Sontag, Against InterpretationBehind all this beauty … there is some spirit hidden of which the painted forms and shapes are but modes of manifestation, and it is with this spirit that I desire to become in harmony.
De Profundis and Other Writings , 1987
Art
If something cannot be done to check, or at least to modify our monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile, and beauty will pass away from the land.Art is the most intense mode of invidualism that the world has known.
in The Fortnightly Review , 1891
Being / Essence / Soul
To recognize that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?
Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing , © 2004