You know we poor artists have to show ourselves in society from time to time, just to remind the public that we are not savages.
 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). copy citation

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

Context

“Lord Henry felt as if he could hear Basil Hallward's heart beating, and wondered what was coming. "The story is simply this," said the painter after some time. "Two months ago I went to a crush at Lady Brandon's. You know we poor artists have to show ourselves in society from time to time, just to remind the public that we are not savages. With an evening coat and a white tie, as you told me once, anybody, even a stock-broker, can gain a reputation for being civilized. Well, after I had been in the room about ten minutes, talking to huge overdressed dowagers and tedious academicians, I suddenly became conscious that some one was looking at me.” source