There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Genuine
Yes. In The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter 1, said by Lord Henry Wotton. These are the character’s words, not a statement in Wilde’s own voice.
Found word for word by program in the full text.
- Work
- The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
- Where
- Chapter 1
- Found at
- Paragraph 21 of the text
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
“I don’t think I shall send it anywhere,” he answered, tossing his head back in that odd way that used to make his friends laugh at him at Oxford. “No, I won’t send it anywhere.”
Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows and looked at him in amazement through the thin blue wreaths of smoke that curled up in such fanciful whorls from his heavy, opium-tainted cigarette. “Not send it anywhere? My dear fellow, why? Have you any reason? What odd chaps you painters are! You do anything in the world to gain a reputation. As soon as you have one, you seem to want to throw it away. It is silly of you, for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.1 A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England, and make the old men quite jealous, if old men are ever capable of any emotion.”
“I know you will laugh at me,” he replied, “but I really can’t exhibit it. I have put too much of myself into it.”
Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed.
The scene
The opening scene of the novel. Lord Henry, lounging in Basil’s studio, praises the portrait of a beautiful young man as Basil’s best work and tells him to send it to the Grosvenor. Basil says he will not exhibit it anywhere, and Lord Henry, amazed, answers with this line. Basil’s reason, which he gives soon after, is that he has put too much of himself into the picture: he is afraid it shows his idolatry of Dorian.
What it means
Fame of any kind, even scandal, is better than obscurity; to be ignored is the worst fate for an artist or a man of the world.
Often misread
Quoted as Wilde’s own creed of self-promotion, and later read in the light of his trials of 1895, when being talked about ruined him. In the novel it is Lord Henry’s flippant advice, and Basil’s refusal to exhibit is the first sign of what the portrait will hide.
Also shared as
- ShortenedThe only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. The usual shortened form in quote collections and marketing slogans.
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Cite it
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter 1. Spoken by Lord Henry Wotton. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/worse-than-being-talked-about/ (31 October 2026).
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