“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilisation in between.”
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.”
“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
“I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”
“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.”
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”
“The world is a stage and the play is badly cast.”
“Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard …
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword”
– Oscar Wilde, born 16th October 1854
STOURHEAD Gardens are beautiful at any time of the year – gorgeous in the full colours of autumn, magical on a frosty or snowy morning, verdant with freshly opening leaves in early spring – but May and June sees the gardens at their most colourful.
The photographs are © National Trust, SG Haywood.