“Life is not a question of principles; it is a question of taste.”Oscar Wilde · Portretul lui Dorian Gray · 1890 · capitolul 19
Life is guided by aesthetics and personal taste, not by rigid moral principles.
Wilde rejects moralism and proposes aesthetics as a guide to life. Principles are abstract and universal, but taste is personal and adapted to each situation. The mechanism is subjectivity: what suits you may be wrong for someone else. For example, choosing a career you love, even if it is not 'respectable,' is a matter of taste, not principle.
Why it matters It frees us from the pressure of living by imposed rules and encourages us to follow our own aesthetic sense.