Oscar Wilde Quotes - Page 39

• Society takes upon itself the right to inflict appalling punishment on the individual, but it also has the supreme vice of shallowness, and fails to realize what it has done. When the man's punishment is over, it leaves him to himself; that is to say, it abandons him at the very moment when its highest duty towards him begins.

  Oscar Wilde

  Men, Vices, Done

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: De profundis, "Epistola : in carcere et vinculis"”, p.101, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• Oh, I love London Society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be.

  Oscar Wilde

  Beautiful, London, Brilliant

  Oscar Wilde (2015). “An Ideal Husband”, p.7, Oscar Wilde

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• 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

  Wise, Philosophy, Men

  Oscar wilde (1943). “The Happy Prince and Other Tales (Illustrated)”, p.14, LCI

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• One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.

  Oscar Wilde

  Lessons, Prison

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: De profundis, "Epistola : in carcere et vinculis"”, p.80, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• The English country-gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Country, Hunting

  "Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations".

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• One must have some sort of occupation nowadays. If I hadn't my debts I shouldn't have anything to think about.

  Oscar Wilde

  Business, Work, Thinking

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• Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away. Sometimes this was the effect of art, and chiefly of the art of literature, which dealt immediately with the passions and the intellect.

  Oscar Wilde

  Art, Passion, People

  Oscar Wilde (2013). “The Essential Oscar Wilde”, p.119, Simon and Schuster

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• And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hypocrite, Land, People

  Oscar Wilde (2015). “The Picture of Dorian Gray (Diversion Classics)”, p.165, Diversion Books

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• I feel that if I kept it secret it might grow in my mind (as poisonous things grow in the dark) and take its place with the other terrible thoughts that gnaw me

  Oscar Wilde

  Dark, Secret, Mind

  Oscar Wilde (1962). “The letters of Oscar Wilde”

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• Miss Prism: And you do not seem to realize, dear Doctor, that by persistently remaining single, a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation. Men should be more careful; this very celibacy leads weaker vessels astray. Chasuble: But is a man not equally attractive when married? Miss Prism: No married man is ever attractive except to his wife. Chasuble: And often, I've been told, not even to her.

  Oscar Wilde

  Men, Doctors, Wife

  "The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays".

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• It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal.

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

  Oscar Wilde (2012). “The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde”, p.161, Courier Corporation

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• Im Krieg machen die Starken die Schwachen zu Sklaven, im Frieden machen die Reichen die Armen zu Sklaven.

  Oscar Wilde

  Peace, Dies

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• My dear young lady, there was a great deal of truth; I dare say, in what you said, and you looked very pretty while you said it, which is much more important.

  Oscar Wilde

  Important, Said, Young

  Oscar Wilde (2000). “The Plays of Oscar Wilde”, p.242, Wordsworth Editions

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• We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Humor, Two Nations

  The Canterville Ghost pt. 1 (1887) See George Bernard Shaw 58

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• Youth is the only thing worth having.

  Oscar Wilde

  Honesty, Youth, Facing The Truth

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Joseph Bristow, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts”, p.30, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it.

  Oscar Wilde

  Beautiful, Spiritual, Perfect

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “The Importance of Being Earnest: Revised Edition”, p.18, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• The one advantage of playing with fire...is
  that no one ever gets singed. It is the people who don't know how to play with it who get burned up.

  Oscar Wilde

  Fun, Fire, Play

  Oscar Wilde, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Lady Wilde, Henry Zick (1909). “The Complete Writings of Oscar Wilde: What never dies”

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• There are works which wait, and which one does not understand for a long time; the reason is that they bring answers to questions which have not yet been raised; for the question often arrives a terribly long time after the answer.

  Oscar Wilde

  Long, Waiting, Doe

  Quoted in Andre Gide, Oscar Wilde: In Memoriam (1910)

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• While to the claims of charity a man may yield and yet be free, to the claims of conformity no man may yield and remain free at all.

  Oscar Wilde

  Men, Yield, Charity

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.1049, Wordsworth Editions

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• What is termed Sin is an essential element of progress. Without it the world would stagnate, or grow old, or become colorless. By its curiosity Sin increases the experience of the race. Through its intensified assertion of individualism it saves us from monotony of type. In its rejection of the current notions about morality, it is one with the higher ethics.

  Oscar Wilde

  Race, Rejection, Curiosity

  Oscar Wilde (1908). “Intentions”

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• Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear. Just as vulgarity is simply the conduct of other people. And falsehoods the truths of other people. Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself. To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.

  Oscar Wilde

  Fashion, Husband, Vulgarity Is

  "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young" (1894)

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• Medievalism, with its saints and martyrs, its love of self-torture, its wild passion for wounding itself, its gashing with knives, and its whipping with rods - Medievalism is real Christianity, and the medieval Christ is the real Christ.

  Oscar Wilde

  Real, Passion, Self

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “Epigrams of Oscar Wilde”, p.109, Wordsworth Editions

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• But then one regrets the loss even of one's worst habits. Perhaps one regrets them the most. They are such an essential part of one's personality.

  Oscar Wilde

  Happiness, Regret, Loss

  Oscar Wilde (2010). “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, p.223, Bibliolis Books

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• It is awfully hard work doing nothing. However, I don't mind hard work when there is no definite object of any kind. To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hard Work, Mind, Doing Nothing

  "The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays".

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• We quaff the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the brim - objects press around us, filling the mind with the throng of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.

  Oscar Wilde

  Life, Death, Waiting

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