Bad Taste Quotes

• Genius creates, and taste preserves.

  Alexander Pope

  Sublime, Intelligence, Genius

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• Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

  H. L. Mencken

  Funny, Witty, Laughter

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• Everyone has taste, yet it is more of a taboo subject than sex or money. The reason for this is simple: claims about your attitudes to or achievements in the carnal and financial arenas can be disputed only by your lover and your financial advisers, whereas by making statements about your taste you expose body and soul to terrible scrutiny. Taste is a merciless betrayer of social and cultural attitudes. Thus, while anybody will tell you as much (and perhaps more than) you want to know about their triumphs in bed and at the bank, it is taste that gets people's nerves tingling.

  Stephen Bayley

  Sex, Attitude, Simple

  Stephen Bayley (2000). “General Knowledge”, Booth-Clibborn

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• Good taste is the excuse I've always given for leading such a bad life

  Oscar Wilde

  Failure, Taste, Excuse

  Oscar Wilde (2012). “Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations”, p.4, Courier Corporation

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• Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.

  Alexander Pope

  Design, Sublime, Genius

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• You have to want to have taste. Some people have inherently bad taste. Their problem is really not the bad taste -- that can be fixed -- but that they don't know they have it!

  Carrie Donovan

  People, Want, Taste

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• Bad taste is simply saying the truth before it should be said.

  Mel Brooks

  Inspiring, Funny Inspirational, Truth

  Quoted in John Robert Columbo, Popcorn in Paradise (1980)

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• To understand bad taste one must have very good taste.

  John Waters

  Taste, Very Good, Good Taste

  "Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste". Book by John Waters, 1981.

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• Good taste is better than bad taste, but bad taste is better than no taste.

  Arnold Bennett

  Character, Taste, Good Taste

  1930 In the Evening Standard, 21 Aug.

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• A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste-it's hearty, it's healthy, it's physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I'm against.

  Diana Vreeland

  Inspirational, Fashion, Nice

  Diana Vreeland (1997). “D.V.”

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• Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste.

  Charles Bukowski

  Taste, Millionaire, Good Taste

  Charles Bukowski (2009). “Hollywood”, p.94, Canongate Books

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• A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.

  Dorothy Parker

  Fashion, Nice, Inspiration

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• It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at a perpetual funeral.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Wise, Wisdom, Funeral

  D. H. Lawrence (2008). “Complete Poems by Lawrence: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition”, p.312, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• What is exhilarating in bad taste is the aristocratic pleasure of giving offense.

  Charles Baudelaire

  Giving, Literature, Taste

  Charles Baudelaire, Christopher Isherwood, W. H. Auden (2006). “Intimate Journals”, p.49, Courier Corporation

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• I voted Republican this year; the Democrats left a bad taste in my mouth.

  Monica Lewinsky

  Stupid, Years, Mouths

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• We all need a splash of bad taste. No taste is what I am against.

  Diana Vreeland

  Fashion, Needs, Taste

  Diana Vreeland (1997). “D.V.”

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• Bad taste is a species of bad morals.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Taste, Moral, Species

  "They Shoot Footage, Don’t They?" by Ellen Leventry, www.beliefnet.com.

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• We permit bad taste in this country. In fact, we even encourage it - and reward it in all manner of ways.

  John Irving

  Country, Rewards, Way

  Interview with Suzanne Herel, www.motherjones.com. May/June 1997.

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• It's gaudy, ugly, and in terribly bad taste. It does, however, suit my personality almost perfectly.

  David Eddings

  Personality, Doe, Ugly

  David Eddings (2010). “King Of The Murgos: (Malloreon 2)”, p.243, Random House

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• Fashions come and go; bad taste is timeless.

  Beau Brummell

  Fashion, Taste, Timeless

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• Behold the Drojim Palace," King Urgit said extravagantly to Sadi, "the hereditary home of the House of Urga." "A most unusual structure, You Majesty," Sadi murmured. "That's a diplomatic way to put it." Urgit looked critically at his palace. "It's gaudy, ugly, and in terribly bad taste. It does, however, suit my personality almost perfectly.

  David Eddings

  Kings, Home, House

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• In San Francisco, vulgarity, "bad taste," ostentation are regarded as a kind of alien blight, an invasion or encroachment from outside. In Los Angeles, there is so much money and power connected with ostentation that is no longer ludicrous: it commands a kind of respect. For if the mighty behave like this, then quiet good taste means that you can't afford the conspicuous expenditures, and you become a little ashamed of your modesty and propriety.

  Pauline Kael

  Mean, San Francisco, Invasion

  pauline kael (1965). “i lost it at the movies”

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• One must shed the bad taste of wanting to agree with many. "Good" is no longer good when one's neighbor mouths it. And how should there be a "common good"! The term contradicts itself: whatever can be common always has little value. In the end it must be as it is and always has been: great things remain for the great, abysses for the profound, nuances and shudders for the refined, and, in brief, all that is rare for the rare.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Profound, Mouths, Littles

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2009). “Basic Writings of Nietzsche”, p.243, Modern Library

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• One must renounce the bad taste of wishing to agree with many people.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  People, Wish, Taste

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2016). “Beyond Good and Evil”, p.55, Friedrich Nietzsche

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• One is born with good taste. It's very hard to acquire. You can acquire the patina of taste. But what Elsie Mendl had was something else that's particularly American––an appreciation of vulgarity. Vulgarity is a very important ingredient in life. I'm a great believer in vulgarity––if it's got vitality. A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste––it's hearty, it's healthy, it's physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I'm against.

  Diana Vreeland

  Appreciation, Nice, Thinking

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