To be really medieval one should have no body. To be really modern one should have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes. – Oscar Wilde A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated
England has done one thing; it has invented and established Public Opinion, which is an attempt to organize the ignorance of the community, and to elevate it to the dignity of physical force. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered. – Oscar Wilde Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young
I don’t quite like women who are interested in philanthropic work. I think it is so forward of them. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of being Earnest, Cecily, Act 2.
Gerald: I suppose society is wonderfully delightful! Lord Illingworth: To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it simply a tragedy. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Act 3.
No one cares about distant relatives nowadays. They went out of fashion years ago. – Oscar Wilde Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime
Nature…she will hang the night with stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt: she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole. – Oscar Wilde De Profundis
As one turns over the pages the suspense of the author becomes unbearable. – Oscar Wilde On 1890s novelist James Payn, The Decay of Lying
The moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or dishonest tradesman. – Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism
In Funny In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. – Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere’s Fan, Mr. Dumby, Act 3.
I was disappointed with Niagara – most people must be disappointed with Niagara. Every American bride is taken there, and the sight of the stupendous waterfall must be one of the earliest, if not the keenest, disappointments in American married life. – Oscar Wilde Impressions of America
If you have not got women on your side you are quite over. You might just as well be a barrister, or a stockbroker, or a journalist at once. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingsworth, Act 3.
Half the pretty women in London smoke cigarettes. Personally I prefer the other half. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 3.
Remember that the fool in the eyes of the gods and the fool in the eyes of man are very different. – Oscar Wilde De Profundis
And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate, does he not And I don’t like that. It makes men so very attractive. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of being Earnest, Gwendolen, Act 2.
Those who see any difference between soul and body have neither. – Oscar Wilde Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young
The world is simply divided into two classes – those who believe the incredible, like the public – and those who do the improbable. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingsworth, Act 3.
It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. – Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere’s Fan, Cecil Graham and Lord Darlington, Act 3.
One should never give a woman anything she can’t wear in the evening. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 3.
Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched. – Oscar Wilde The Nightingale and the Rose
The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves. – Oscar Wilde Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young
You should never try to understand them. Women are pictures. Men are problems. If you want to know what a woman really means – which, by the way, is always a dangerous thing to do – look at her, don’t listen to her. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingsworth, Act 3.
What is termed Sin is an essential element of progress. Without it the world would stagnate, or grow old, or become colorless. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Well, to speak with perfect candour, Cecily, I wish that you were fully forty-two, and more than usually plain for your age. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Gwendolen, Act 2.
All the spring may be hidden in the single bud, and the low ground nest of the lark may hold the joy that is to herald the feet of many rose-red dawns. – Oscar Wilde De Profundis
Ah! Meredith! Who can define him. His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning. As a writer he has mastered everything except language: as a novelist he can do anything, except tell a story: as an artist he is everything, except articulate. – Oscar Wilde The Decay of Lying