Oscar Wilde Quotes About Culture

• Oh! it is absurd to have a hard-and-fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.

  Oscar Wilde

  Reading, Culture, Half

  Oscar Wilde (1899). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.10

• Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation, and conversation must have a common basis, and between two people of widely different culture the only common basis possible is the lowest level.

  Oscar Wilde

  Relationship, Two, People

  Oscar Wilde (1999). “De Profundis: The Ballad of Reading Gaol and Other Writings”, p.13, Wordsworth Editions

• Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on.

  Oscar Wilde

  Beauty, Real, Sunset

  Oscar Wilde, Isobel Murray (2008). “Oscar Wilde - The Major Works”, p.233, Oxford University Press

• There is much to be said in favor of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.

  Oscar Wilde

  Ignorance, Modern Journalism, Giving

  Oscar Wilde (1969). “The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde”, p.393, University of Chicago Press

• The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.

  Oscar Wilde

  Government, Civilization, Culture

  "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" (1891)

• The cities of America are inexpressibly tedious. The Bostonians take their learning too sadly; culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an atmosphere; their Hub, as they call it, is the paradise of prigs. Chicago is a sort of monster-shop, full of bustles and bores. Political life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. Baltimore is amusing for a week, but Philadelphia is dreadfully provincial; and though one can dine in New York one could not dwell there.

  Oscar Wilde

  New York, Dine In, Philadelphia

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.1023, GENERAL PRESS

• To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.

  Oscar Wilde

  Men, Giving, Culture

  Oscar Wilde (1969). “The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde”, p.349, University of Chicago Press

• More than half of modern culture depends upon what one shouldn't read.

  Oscar Wilde

  Culture, Half, Importance Of Being Earnest

  Oscar Wilde (1980). “Poems”

• The Bostonians take their learning too sadly: culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an atmosphere; their "Hub," as they call it, is the paradise of prigs.

  Oscar Wilde

  Accomplishment, Atmosphere, Culture

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.1023, GENERAL PRESS

• The British cook, for her iniquities, is a foolish woman who should be turned into a pillar of salt which she never knows how to use.

  Oscar Wilde

  Pillars, Culture, Use

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