Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich.
 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). copy citation

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Author Oscar Wilde
Source The Picture of Dorian Gray
Topic sin privilege
Date 1890
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm

Context

“"But, surely, if one lives merely for one's self, Harry, one pays a terrible price for doing so?" suggested the painter. "Yes, we are overcharged for everything nowadays. I should fancy that the real tragedy of the poor is that they can afford nothing but self-denial. Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich." "One has to pay in other ways but money." "What sort of ways, Basil?" "Oh! I should fancy in remorse, in suffering, in ... well, in the consciousness of degradation." Lord Henry shrugged his shoulders.” source