Oscar Wilde Quotes

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

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

"By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community."

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

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

"Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning (beat, force or bully) of the people by the people for the people."

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

"Everything popular is wrong."

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."

"Hatred is blind, as well as love."

 "The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything."

"I am not young enough to know everything."

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

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

"If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism."

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures."

"In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane."

"In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever."

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

"It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating"

"Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason"

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."

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

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

"No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly."

"One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards."

"Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected."

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

"Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result."

"The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

"The General was essentially a man of peace, except of course in his domestic affairs."

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

"The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world."

 

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

"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can resist everything but temptation."

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

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."

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

"There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating - people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing."

"There is no sin except stupidity."

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

 

"Those whom the gods love grow young."

"To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect."

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

"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."

"Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong."

"Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes."

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."

"All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life."