Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance You should study the Peerage, Gerald. It is the one book a young man about town should know thoroughly, and it is the best thing in fiction the English have ever done. The modern method is to vulgarise them. Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable. Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second.
Words are perhaps the worst.
Words are merciless. Whatever harsh criticisms may be passed on the construction of her sentences, she at least possesses that one touch of vulgarity that makes the whole world kin. Whatever harsh criticisms may be passed on the construction of her sentences, she at least possesses that one touch of vulgarity that makes the whole world kin. Where there is no exaggeration there is no love, and where there is no love there is no understanding. 1891 Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.