There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
- Source
- The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 1, 1890
- Written
- 1890
About this quotation
Lord Henry Wotton says it to the painter Basil Hallward, who has just said he will not exhibit his portrait of Dorian Gray. The line is spoken by a character, not by Wilde as an opinion, and the novel is a long test of how far it is true.