[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Life Without Love Is Like a Sunless Garden When the Flowers Are Dead

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your valuable feedback and letter excerpts, Rich.

I searched "The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde" (2000) to gather more
information about Harold Mellor who died in 1925. The relationship
between Wilde and Mellor was complex. Initially, Wilde viewed Mellor
positively. On February 2, 1899, Wilde wrote a letter to Robert Ross
containing the following description of Mellor:

[Begin excerpt]
He is a charming fellow, very cultivated, though he finds that
Literature is an inadequate expression of Life. That is quite true:
but a work of Art is an adequate expression of Art; that is its aim.
[End excerpt]

Wilde's viewpoint changed after he spent more time with Mellor. In a
letter dated March 12, 1899, Wilde told Ross that Mellor was mean,
i.e., stingy:

[Begin excerpt]
I dislike Mellor, because he is unsocial, taciturn, wretched company,
and taking no pains to please or gratify his guest. He is very well
off, but absurdly mean in everything. He gives me at dinner the most
horrid Swiss vin ordinaire, though he has a capital cellar, and is
quite amused by the fact that I don’t like it. There is insanity in
his family … His own insanity is misanthropy, and meanness. I am
philosophic about it now; indeed we only meet at meals. In the evening
he reads The Times, or sleeps — both audibly.
[End excerpt]

Wilde also complained that Mellor was reluctant to loan him money.
Yet, Wilde visited Mellor again after he was sent a £50 gift.
I updated the Quote Investigator article and changes should be visible
within an hour.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/10/11/sunless-garden/

[Begin acknowledgement excerpt]
Thanks to Rich Lowenthal who highlighted the uneasy relationship
between Oscar Wilde and Harold Mellor as revealed in letters from
Wilde.
[End acknowledgement excerpt]

With appreciation
Garson O'Toole

On Sun, Oct 11, 2026 at 8:11 PM Rich Lowenthal
<000018596069864c-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> As your correspondent says, Wilde was not known for being sentimental. I
> do question whether Wilde was capable of such a dull and obvious
> statement.
>
> FWIW, Wilde's relationship with Mellor was not an easy one: in a letter
> Wilde wrote, "I don't like Mellor; he is a silent, dull person,
> cautious, and economical: revolting Swiss wines appear at meals; he is
> complex without being interesting..."; and in a later letter, "Mellor
> still tedious and unbearable. I simply cannot stand him. I wish I could
> get away." Wilde's opinion of Mellor either improved or Wilde decided
> that Mellor's wealth provided sufficient atonement for his other sins,
> and Wilde continued to travel with and visit him. From Wilde's accounts
> Mellor sounds like someone of little wit or perception: not necessarily
> the best reporter when it comes to a bon mot.
>
> Of course, this proves nothing.
>

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