The English mind is always in a rage. The intellect of the race is wasted in the sordid and stupid quarrels of second-rate politicians or third-rate theologians. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
People say the schoolmaster is abroad. I wish to goodness he were. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Bad artists always admire each other’s work. They call it being large-minded and free from prejudice. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Anybody can write a three-volumed novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
We cannot go back to the saint. There is far more to be learned from the sinner. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
And, as for what is called improving conversation, that is merely the foolish method by which the still more foolish philanthropist feebly tries to disarm the just rancour of the criminal classes. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Formerly we used to canonize our heroes. The modern method is to vulgarize them. Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Ah! It is so easy to convert others. It is so difficult to convert oneself. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
The ancient historians gave us delightful fiction in the form of fact; the modern novelist presents us with dull facts under the guise of fiction. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
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
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
As for modern journalism, it is not my business to defend it. It justifies its own existence by the great Darwinian principle of the survival of the vulgarest. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories, or have never done anything worth remembering. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
What people call insincerity is merely a method by which we can multiply our personalities. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
I am afraid that you have been listening to the conversation of someone older than yourself. That is always a dangerous thing to do, and if you allow it to degenerate into a habit, you will find it absolutely fatal to any intellectual development. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
The man who sees both sides of a question, is a man who sees absolutely nothing at all. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Whatever music sounds like, I am glad to say that it does not sound in the smallest degree like German. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
It is because Humanity has never known where it was going that it has been able to find its way. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
