"Basil, my dear boy, puts everything that is charming in him into his work. The consequence is that he has nothing left for life but his prejudices, his principles, and his common sense. The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists. Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize."I read this novel in the fall of last year, but as with any good book, some of the ideas keep rattling around in my head. The idea from this quote in particular stuck in my brain because I consider myself somewhat of an artist (not that I give myself the label of "Artist", but that I make things that could be considered "Art" such as paintings, music, and poetry). I wonder which I might be - the poor artist, living the work that I wish I could make? Or am I living such a boring life because I am putting my everything into my work?
Of course, Dorian Gray's character may be completely wrong, and there could exist some sort of middle ground, where neither the artist or the art is very interesting. At this point in my life, I am most likely somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.
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