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  ...compulsory chastity did you all the good in the world. That is why you wrote those superb letters to the 'Daily Chronicle,' and the 'Ballad of Reading Gaol'; the State ought really to put you in prison and keep you there."
For the first time in my life I saw angry dislike in his eyes.
"You talk poisonous nonsense, Frank," he retorted. "Bad food is bad for everyone, and abstinence from tobacco is mere torture to me. Chastity is just as unnatural and devilish as hunger; I hate both. Self-denial is the shining sore on the leprous body of Christianity.   "
To all this M---- giggled applause, which naturally excited the combative instincts in me--always too alert.
"All great artists," I replied, "have had to practise chastity; it is chastity alone which gives vigour and tone to mind and body, while building up a reserve of extraordinary strength. Your favourite Greeks never allowed an athlete to go into the palaestra unless he had previously lived a life of complete chastity for a whole year. Balzac, too, practised it and extolled its...   Wilde, Oscar

Excerpt from Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (of 2) His Life and Confessions · This quote is tagged Abstinence · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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