Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Oscar Wilde Playwright

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United Kingdom
  • Born: Oct 16, 1854
  • Died: Nov 30, 1900

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.

Wilde's parents were successful Anglo-Irish Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university, Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation. death & good

He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends. friendship

The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation. technology

This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last. hope

I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything. love, men & women

Women are made to be loved, not understood. women

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her. love

In married life three is company and two none. life

The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life. life

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. work

It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to be good than to be ugly. good

It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. good

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there. good

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. art

Some cause happiness wherever they go others whenever they go. happiness

Hatred is blind, as well as love. love

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship. friendship, love, men & women

Success is a science if you have the conditions, you get the result. science & success

There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love. love

Those whom the gods love grow young. love

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. experience

Society exists only as a mental concept in the real world there are only individuals. society

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not. good & life

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. love

The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you. art, great & work

It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art. art

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. life

An excellent man he has no enemies and none of his friends like him. friendship

Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement. science

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself. good

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. dreams

I want my food dead. Not sick, not dying, dead. food

A poet can survive everything but a misprint. poetry

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. truth

I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy. society

Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. art & life

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. future

The salesman knows nothing of what he is selling save that he is charging a great deal too much for it. great

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. life

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means. good

Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance. romantic

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating. age

True friends stab you in the front. friendship

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life now that I am old I know that it is. life & money

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure. failure

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. travel

Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing. experience

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius. forgiveness

Children begin by loving their parents after a time they judge them rarely, if ever, do they forgive them. time

Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes. men & women

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. art & great

The truth is rarely pure and never simple. truth

Now that the House of Commons is trying to become useful, it does a great deal of harm. great

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. life & love

It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection. art

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much. forgiveness

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information. sad

I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability. God

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. attitude

To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect. intelligence

One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead. life

Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our gigantic intellects. love, men & women

It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes. hope

I put all my genius into my life I put only my talent into my works. life

Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance. love, men & women

All art is quite useless. art

Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one. best & friendship

How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive. marriage

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. life

Men marry because they are tired women, because they are curious both are disappointed. men & women

If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized. society

In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin. good & life

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

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. marriage

Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life. family & life

If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world. sympathy

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. good

Work is the curse of the drinking classes. work

I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability. God

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. poetry

There is nothing in the world like the devotion of a married woman. It is a thing no married man knows anything about. marriage

Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching. learning & teacher

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

When good Americans die they go to Paris. good

Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away. death

The one charm about marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties. life & marriage

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. art & work

If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life. life

Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion. good & society

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular. war

One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry. love & marriage

Biography lends to death a new terror. death

When a man has once loved a woman he will do anything for her except continue to love her. love

What we have to do, what at any rate it is our duty to do, is to revive the old art of Lying. art

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. patriotism

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. women

Who, being loved, is poor? love

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

If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music people don't talk. good & music

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates. imagination