It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

Yes, for him a kiss really ruined his life.

However, I think a kiss can ruin our lives, no matter what our sexual orientation is :)

I completely agree. :)

I'm sure that many people's lives were / have been ruined because of a kiss.

This quote gets even more interesting if you know that Oscar Wilde was one of the only openly homosexual writers in the Victorian Era.

In fact, he was sentenced to 2 years of hard labor and imprisonment for his sexuality, which was still illegal in England at the time. 

So, for Oscar Wilde, a kiss really did ruin his life. 

http://www.victorianstation.com/wilde.htm