"Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace." ~ Oscar Wilde

"One's real life is often the life that one does not lead."

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."

"I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability."

"Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made."

Before leaving Dublin I want to mention Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright and aesthete.*  He was born in 1854 into a family of intellectuals and studied Classics before moving into fashionable cultural and social circles in London.  His plays, including The Importance of Being Earnest, incorporating larger social themes, most particularly virtue, decadence and duplicity made him one of the most successful playwrights of the Victorian Age.  His writings include essays, a novel (A Picture of Dorian Grey), his witty epigrams and other social commentary.  In 1895 he was hounded by the Marquess of Queensberry who objected to Wilde's relationship with his son.  The son, Lord Alfred Douglas called Wilde "the most chivalrous friend in the world."  Alas, it was Victorian England, after all, and after numerous trials Wilde was jailed for "gross indecency with men", two years of "hard labour, hard fare and a hard bed".

His health ruined, he left for Paris after his release and died there three years later.  He is celebrated throughout the world today, not only for his brilliant writing, but as one of the icons of what has become the gay equal rights movement.  Dublin has a number of memorial places and so does Galway City - there is a lovely bronze stare of Wilde sitting on a park bench on Shop Street.  It seems to have been put there, according to a salesperson I asked, "for no good reason, except to make the place look good."

It was amusing and poignant to see this Tommy Hilfiger sign only steps away from the lovely Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square Park.  BTW ~ the Irish referendum on gay marriage will be held May 22, 2015.  [May 23 update: Ireland is the first country in the world to approve gay marriage by popular vote.]

* Aesthetes ~ The artists and writers of Aesthetic style tended to profess that the Arts should provide refined sensuous pleasure, rather than convey moral or sentimental messages. (from Wikipedia)

I was introduced to Oscar Wilde when my sister Barbara played Lady Bracknell in A Burlington High School production of The Importance of Being Earnest, still a favorite play.  I learned only later of his significance and fascinating life.  You can read his epigrams here and a wonderful account of the trials here.