:21:00
I'm concerned entirely
with literature -
:21:02
with art.
:21:03
I do not aim at doing
good or evil,
:21:05
but at making a thing
:21:07
that will have
some quality of beauty.
:21:09
Here is one of your...
:21:11
pieces of literature.
:21:13
"Wickedness is a myth
invented by good people
:21:15
"to account for the curious
attractiveness of others. "
:21:23
D'you think that true?
:21:24
I rarely think anything
I write is true.
:21:27
"If one tells the truth,
:21:29
"one is sure, sooner or later,
to be found out. "
:21:34
That is a pleasing paradox
:21:36
but I don't set very high store
by it as an axiom.
:21:39
Is it good for the young?
:21:41
Anything's good
that stimulates thought,
:21:43
at whatever age.
:21:45
Whether moral
or immoral?
:21:46
There is no such thing
:21:47
as morality or
immorality in thought.
:21:49
What about this,
then?
:21:51
"Pleasure is the only thing
one should live for. "
:21:56
I think that
the realisation of oneself
:21:58
is the prime aim of life,
:22:00
and that to realise
through pleasure
:22:02
is finer than to realise
through pain.
:22:04
I am, on this point,
:22:05
entirely on the side
of the Ancients. The Greeks.
:22:10
How long have you known
Alfred Taylor?
:22:13
About two years.
:22:15
Two and a half years.
:22:17
Is he an intimate
friend of yours?
:22:19
I wouldn't call him
that, no.
:22:20
But you went often
to his rooms.
:22:23
About seven or eight
times, perhaps.
:22:25
Did you know Mr Taylor
:22:27
kept ladies' dresses
in his rooms?
:22:31
No.
:22:32
Did you know
he was notorious
:22:34
for introducing young men
to older men?
:22:37
I never heard it in my life.
:22:39
Has he introduced
young men to you?
:22:43
Yes.
:22:44
How many
young men?
:22:47
About five.
:22:49
What were their occupations?
:22:52
I really don't know.
:22:53
Oh, well, let me
tell you, Mr Wilde.
:22:56
You met a man
called Charles Parker there,
:22:59
I believe.