"Drift beautifully on the surface, and you will die unbeautifully in the depths."

--

Source : Richard Ellmann (2013). “Oscar Wilde”, p.510, Vintage

Richard Ellmann

#Depth Quotes #Surface Quotes

“Unfortunately civility is hard to codify or legislate, but you know it when you see it. It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.”
“I've been collecting photos for a long time, I mean since I started making money. But what you have had to go through to find a good photo is like a needle in the haystack sometimes. You'll drive from one gallery to the next gallery to the next gallery. It's not an easy process. It's a very ancient model that just hasn't caught up with the times.”
“For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.”
“I ask for a lot of advice from different fathers - all kinds of dads.”
“Of course, it is always nice to poll well, but if you don't get representatives elected, then what is the point?”
“I don't want to produce anyone that doesn't want to be produced by me.”
“The purpose of democracy - supplanting old belief in the necessary absoluteness of establish'd dynastic rulership, temporal, ecclesiastical, and scholastic, as furnishing the only security against chaos, crime, and ignorance - is, through many transmigrations, and amid endless ridicules, arguments, and ostensible failures”
“There are two things you should never waste your time on: things that don't matter and people that think you don't matter.”

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