Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. Known for his wit, flamboyant personality, and sharp social commentary, he is considered one of the most prominent figures of the late Victorian era.
His works, including “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Importance of Being Earnest,” continue to be celebrated for their humor and satirical critique of society.
Wilde’s career was marred by scandal and controversy, and he faced legal consequences for his homosexuality. His life and writings remain influential in literature and LGBTQ+ history.
Oscar Wilde Quotes
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde Quotes
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
“I can resist anything except temptation.”
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
“I have nothing to declare except my genius.”
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”
“I am not young enough to know everything.”
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
“I don’t want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there.”
“I can’t stand people who do not take food seriously.”
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
“I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”
“True friends stab you in the front.”
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”
“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world, there are only individuals.”
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.”
“I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects.”
“The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.”
“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”
“A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.”
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”
“The only thing worse than being inauthentic is being inauthentic and boring.”
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
“I don’t want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there.”
“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt toward people whom we personally dislike.”
“No man is rich enough to buy back his past.”
“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”
“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”
“A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.”
“One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.”
“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”
“It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.”
“Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.”
“The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.”
“There is no sin except stupidity.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“I am not young enough to know everything.”
“A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction.”
“Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.”
“Women are made to be loved, not understood.”
“I am not at all cynical. I have merely got experience, which, however, is very much the same thing.”
“Genius is born—not paid.”
