Categories
Oscar Wilde

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

To be great is to be misunderstood.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Over the piano was printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.

Over the piano was printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal.

Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Somehow or other I’ll be famous, and if not famous, I’ll be notorious.

I’ll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I’ll be famous, and if not famous, I’ll be notorious. Or perhaps I’ll lead the life of pleasure for a time and then—who knows?—rest and do nothing. What does Plato say is the highest end that man can attain here below? To sit down and contemplate the good. Perhaps that will be the end of me too.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Every woman grows up to be her mother: it is her curse. No man does, and that is his.

Every woman grows up to be her mother: it is her curse. No man does, and that is his.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

To be good is to be in harmony with oneself. Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others.

To be good is to be in harmony with oneself. Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Disobedience is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

Disobedience is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

To love oneself is the beginning of a life long romance.

To love oneself is the beginning of a life long romance.

Categories
The Importance of Being Earnest

Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it.

ALGERNON. Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University. They do it so well in the daily papers. What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyists I know.

Categories
The Importance of Being Earnest

ALGERNON. The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!

ALGERNON. The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!
JACK. That wouldn’t be at all a bad thing.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Yet each man kills the thing he loves,

Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The koward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!

Categories
The Importance of Being Earnest

CECILY. I have never met any really wicked person before. I feel rather frightened. I am so afraid he will look just like every one else.

CECILY. I have never met any really wicked person before. I feel rather frightened. I am so afraid he will look just like every one else.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Such idle dreams belong

Such idle dreams belong
To souls of lesser depth than mine;
I feel that I am half devine;
I know that I am great and strong.

Categories
The Picture of Dorian Gray

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned…. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on.

Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned…. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on.

Categories
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious; both are disappointed.

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious; both are disappointed.

Categories
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Women try their luck; men risk theirs.

When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.

Categories
Oscar Wilde

In married life affection comes when people thoroughly dislike each other.

In married life affection comes when people thoroughly dislike each other.

Categories
The Importance of Being Earnest

Relations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die.

Relations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die.