花与王尔德

今天路过包图的时候，一阵清香袭来，仔细寻视才发现墙角处的一拥白玉兰。开得如此繁盛，却又不露声息。忽想起红楼梦里宝玉给袭人取名字的典故：

花气袭人知骤暖，鹊声穿树喜新晴。

赶巧的是，今天微信短篇阅读小组推送的一首诗，也是关于花的：

诗家清景在新春，绿柳才黄半未匀。

若待上林花似锦，出门俱是看花人。

也正是因为后两句描写的意境如此应景，用语虽平常却又贴切万分，因此竟对这首诗有种说不出的喜欢。所以翻开公众号收录的往日诗歌合集，在众多中外诗歌之间，却意外地发现了一个熟悉而又陌生的名字—王尔德，熟悉在彷佛很多地方多见到过，陌生在对其人其作品未有过多了解。

因此点进去《王尔德经典语录》，被其中一句话给逗乐了：

When I was young, I used to think that money was the most important thing in life, now I am old, I know it is.

料想能说出这般有趣的话的人，身体里一定也会住着一个有趣的灵魂。随后查到他的百度词条简介：英国作家，诗人，散文家，唯美主义代表人物。出生于爱尔兰都柏林，家世卓越，幼年不善交际，钟情于花朵，落日于文学。青年求学牛津，于希腊旅行期间拜倒在其美轮美奂的建筑风格之下。毕业后在伦敦社交圈以其特立独行的服装和谈吐崭露头角。其作品词藻华丽，立意新颖，观点鲜明，代表作包括一系列戏剧以及长篇小说《道林格雷的画像》。后因其与道格拉斯的龙阳之恋遭受两年牢狱之灾，之前的朋友因此对其避之不及，社会地位与名望的一落千丈导致其作品风格大变，最终出狱三年之后即因脑膜炎于巴黎去世。

因才华而出众，又为才华所累，一生放荡不羁，颠沛流离。让我印象最深的一点是王尔德喜欢在衣服扣眼上插上一朵绿色康乃馨，这种对于美的追求贯穿他的一生，即使在狱中服役期间也是如此。当年出狱之时，他担心的第一件事就是衣服这么寒碜如何出去见人。后来身无分文的王尔德托人找到了一个裁缝专门为其定制了一套衣服，才得以让他实现“体体面面“的出狱这一想法。还未出狱，王尔德便给他的朋友写信，让其为他准备各种衣服、鞋帽、手绢、手套、装饰纽扣、香皂、香料、头发营养液等，每一种都有具体品牌、颜色、样式要求。

王尔德的语言机智巧妙，尤其喜欢以一种看似相互矛盾的措辞来阐述自己的观点，让人无可置辩，因此被人们称之为王尔德悖论。比如以下关于生活的：

I can resist everything except temptation.
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants and the other is getting it.
The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgive everything except genius.
I don not want to earn my living. I want to live.
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prays.
Life is never fair...And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.
No great artist ever sees things as they really are, if he did, he would cease to be an artist.
Most people discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
One can always be kind to people one cares nothing about.
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.
Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.
I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments.
Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them.
Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
One's real life is often the life that one does not lead.
Men become old, but they never become good.
It is absurd to divide people in to good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success.
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.
Bad artists always admire each other's work.
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
The difference between journalism and literature is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.

关于男女的：

If a woman can't make her mistakes charming, she is only a female.
As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.
Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes.
Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.
Hatred is blind, as well as love.
Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious; both are disappointed.
Wicked women bother one. Good women bore one. That is the only difference between them.
A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

当然他的语录中也不乏很多能够激励人心的话语：

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.
Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.
Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.

还有一个有趣的细节，由于对故乡英国的失望，王尔德死后就地葬在了巴黎，其墓碑按照诗集斯芬克斯中的意象被雕刻成一座小的狮身人面像，但是与安息在他身边的波兰钢琴诗人肖邦，法国戏剧家莫里哀和小说家巴尔扎克墓前铺满鲜花不一样的是，王尔德的墓碑上是五颜六色的吻痕。来自世界各地的人们选择用这种独特的方式来悼念他，由此看来这个世界对长得好看的人还是很宽容的，也难怪王尔德会说：

It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly.

人们常说好看的皮囊千篇一律，有趣的灵魂万里挑一，能把这两点全都占住了人更是难得。今日有机会邂逅如此之人，足矣。