The world has been made by fools that wise men should live in it. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingworth, Act 3.
The work of art is to dominate the spectator: the spectator is not to dominate the work of art. – Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism
I would sooner say, or hear it said of me, that I was so typical a child of my age, that in my perversity, and for that perversity`s sake, I turned the good things of my life to evil, and the evil things of my life to good. – Oscar Wilde De Profundis
Hesitation of any kind is a sign of mental decay in the young, of physical weakness in the old. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell, Act 3.
If England treats her criminals the way she has treated me, she doesn’t deserve to have any. – Oscar Wilde
When I look at the map and see what an ugly country Australia is, I feel that I want to go there and see if it cannot be changed into a more beautiful form. – Oscar Wilde Attributed
I prefer women with a past. They’re always so damned amusing to talk to. – Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere’s Fan, Lord Augustus Lorton, Act 3.
It is a much cleverer thing to talk nonsense than to listen to it. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon, Act 3.
Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life. Mothers are different. Mothers are darlings. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 4.
When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself. And one ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingworth, Act 3.
In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Gwendolen, Act 3.
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 coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword! – Oscar Wilde The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. – Oscar Wilde De Profundis
I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying. – Oscar Wilde The Remarkable Rocket
What people call insincerity is merely a method by which we can multiply our personalities. – Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist
Oh! I killed Bunbury this afternoon. I mean poor Bunbury died this afternoon. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon, Act 3.
London is too full of fogs and – and serious people, Lord Windermere. Whether the fogs produce the serious people or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don’t know. – Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere’s Fan, Mrs. Erlynne, Act 4.
When one pays a visit it is for the purpose of wasting other people’s time, not one’s own. – Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 4.
You were the prettiest of playthings, the most fascinating of small romances. – Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance, Lord Illingworth, Act 4.
The chin a little higher, dear. Style largely depends on the way the chin is worn. They are worn very high, just at present. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell, Act 3.
A man who does not think for himself does not think at all. – Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism
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 only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated. – Oscar Wilde The Remarkable Rocket
Never speak disrespectfully of Society. Only people who can’t get into it do that. – Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell, Act 3.
