It’s hard, or better say, nearly impossible to choose a favorite book when all you have ever done in your life is reading. Some books though, they’re not merely books. Some hit harder. Touch us deeper and in places we never knew existed. Some could simply be a mirror of one’s soul or a shattered piece of a nerve wrecking memory.

I was around age 9 the first time I heard about this book. An English literature teacher of mine talked about it in class and short after I found myself reading it whenever I had the time. Next time I read it I was 12, next I was 15, next I was 17 and now I am almost 20. And even though things tire me easily and youth never awed me the way it awed Dorian, The picture of Dorian Gray is simply my favorite book. The piece of literature I wish to be put in the same grave with.

Now to be exactly honest, this book is just Henry Wotton giving people free speeches about literally everything. It’s barely about Dorian himself, but more about what he represents. It may seem pretentious. Because it actually is. So was Henry. The guy I hated the first time I read about him. But also the guy I admired the last time I did. The guy I find myself agreeing with, but for what it’s worth, disagreeing mostly. Some men really have the ability to make a thought sound like a fact and holy father of Jesus, Henry Wotton was the president of them all. This fact alone made everything about this book godlike. I, as a kid, got so confused of the things I should’ve admired and the things I should’ve loathed. I, as an adult, could easily beat Henry in a conversation battle just because I know now, what to believe and when to ignore. And that, I owe Oscar for.

There is no part in this book that I cannot love. (Even parts I hate. Quotes I dislike.)
But there are two sets of conversations that i admire wholeheartedly. It would be such a waste if i don’t quote it here;

“I shall write it in my diary to-night.”
“What?”
“That a burnt child loves the fire.”
“I am not even singed. My wings are untouched.”
“You use them for everything, except flight.”
“Courage has passed from men to women. It is a new experience for us.”
__________
“What is art?”
“It is a malady.”
“Love?”
“An illusion.”
“Religion?”
“The fashionable substitute for belief.”
“You are a sceptic.”
“Never! Scepticism is the beginning of Faith.”
“What are you?”
“To define is to limit.”
“Give me a clue.”
“Threads snap. You would lose your way in the labyrinth.”