Art is not to be taught in Academies. It is what one looks at, not what one listens to, that makes the artist. The real schools should be the streets. – Oscar Wilde
As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them. – Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism
One can survive everything nowadays, except death, and live down anything except a good reputation. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingworth, Act 1.
Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. – Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere’s Fan, Duchess of Berwick, Act 1.
He had gone on the Stock Exchange for six months; but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears. – Oscar Wilde The Model Millionaire
In England a man who can’t talk morality twice a week to a large, popular, immoral audience is quite over as a serious politician. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2.
For romantic young people…the world always looks best at a distance. – Oscar Wilde Vera, or The Nihilists
What a silly thing love is! It is not half as useful as logic, for it does not prove anything and it is always telling one things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true. – Oscar Wilde The Nightingale and the Rose
Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of being Earnest, Gwendolen, Act 1.
The English country gentleman galloping after a fox – the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingworth, Act 3.
And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats, None knew so well as I: For he who lives more lives than one More deaths than one must die. – Oscar Wilde The Ballad of Reading Gaol
If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out. – Oscar Wilde Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young
Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2.
Man reaches his perfection, not through what he has, not even through what he does, but entirely through what he is. – Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism
Do you know, Mr. Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must be so pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about. Agatha has found it on the map. What a curious shape it is! Just like a large packing case. – Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere’s Fan, Duchess of Berwick, Act 2.
I am not at all in favor of amusements for the poor. Blankets and coal are sufficient. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lady Caroline, Act 1.
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection; through art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant as the case may be. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of being Earnest, Lady Bracknell, Act 1.
The English can’t stand a man who is always saying he is in the right, but they are very fond of a man who admits that he has been in the wrong. It is one of the best things in them. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2.
The more one analyses people, the more all reasons for analysis disappear. Sooner or later one comes to that dreadful universal thing called human nature. – Oscar Wilde The Decay of Lying
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. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
She can talk brilliantly upon any subject, provided that she knows nothing about it. – Oscar Wilde The American Invasion
One must have some occupation nowadays. If I hadn’t my debts I shouldn’t have anything to think about. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Alfred, Act 1.
Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do. – Oscar Wilde The Remarkable Rocket
In fact the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people…The Japanese people are…simply a mode of style, an exquisite fancy of art. – Oscar Wilde The Decay of Lying