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Oscar Wilde Quotes - Page 37

All Quotes Achievement Acting Affection Age Aging Ambition Anger Appearance Appreciation Arguing Art Atheism Atmosphere Attitude Authority Beauty Beer Being Happy Being Real Being Single Being Yourself Belief Betrayal Blame Break Up Business Censorship Change Chaos Character Charity Children Christ Church College Common Sense Community Conformity Conscience Consciousness Cooking Country Courage Creativity Crime Criticism Critics Culture Curiosity Death Deception Defeat Desire Destiny Dignity Disappointment Doubt Drama Drinking Drunkenness Duty Dying Earth Eating Education Environment Ethics Evil Exercise Failing Failure Faith Falling In Love Family Fashion Fear Feelings Fidelity Fighting Flirting Food Forgiveness Friends Friendship Funny Future Genius Giving Gold Goodness Gossip Graduation Gratitude Greatness Greek Grief Growing Old Growth Happiness Hard Work Harmony Hate Hatred Heart Heartbreak Heaven Hell Hilarious History Home Honesty Hope Horror House Human Nature Humanity Hurt Husband Hypocrisy Ignorance Imagination Imitation Impulse Individualism Individuality Innocence Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Integrity Intelligence Irony Journalism Joy Judgement Judging Kissing Knowledge Language Laughter Leadership Learning Liars Liberty Life Life And Love Listening Literature Live Life Logic Loss Lost Love Love Love Life Luck Lust Lying Madness Mankind Manners Marriage Mask Maturity Mediocrity Memories Moderation Money Moon Morality Morning Motivational Mourning Music Nature Oblivion Opportunity Optimism Pain Passion Past Peace Perception Perfection Personality Perspective Pessimism Philosophy Pleasure Poetry Positive Poverty Prayer Prejudice Progress Purpose Quality Rage Reading Reality Rebellion Regret Rejection Religion Reputation Respect Risk Romance Romantic Love Romanticism Running Sacrifice Sad Sadness Sarcasm School Science Selfishness Silence Simplicity Sin Sincerity Sleep Society Solitude Sorrow Soul Spring Struggle Study Stupidity Style Success Suffering Summer Survival Sympathy Talent Tea Teaching Temptation Terror Theatre Time Tragedy Train Travel Truth Ugliness Understanding Utopia Values Virtue Vision Waiting Wall War Water Weakness Wife Wine Winning Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worship Writing Yoga Youth

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

Beautiful, Art, Impression

Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.3, Wordsworth Editions

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy, Wicked, Would Be

'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895) act 2

The liar at any rate recognizes that recreation, not instruction, is the aim of conversation, and is a far more civilized being than the blockhead who loudly expresses his disbelief in a story which is told simply for the amusement of the company.

Liars, Lying, Stories

Oscar Wilde (2014). “A Critic in Pall Mall: Being Extracts from Reviews and Miscellanies”, p.60, Simon and Schuster

When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

Country, People, Towns

Oscar Wilde (2016). “The Importance of Being Earnest: Revised Edition”, p.7, Bloomsbury Publishing

That very concentration of vision and intensity of purpose which is the characteristic of the artistic temperament is in itself a mode of limitation. To those who are preoccupied with the beauty of form nothing else seems of much importance.

Vision, Purpose, Artistic

Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.947, Wordsworth Editions

It is not wise to find symbols in everything that one sees. It makes life too full of terrors.

Wise, Terror, Symbols

Oscar Wilde (2015). “Salome”, p.148, Broadview Press

All modes of government are failures. Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. Oligarchies are unjust to the many, and ochlocracies are unjust to the few. High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. It has been found out. I must say that it was high time, for all authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and degrades those over whom it is exercised.

Mean, Exercise, Government

"The Soul of Man Under Socialism" (1891)

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

Funny, God, Sarcastic

Oscar Wilde (2012). “Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations”, p.12, Courier Corporation

A burnt child loves the fire.

Children, Fire, Children Love

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.454, Oxford University Press on Demand

The public has always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their own stupidity.

Art, Tired, Vanity

Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.1043, GENERAL PRESS

I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if only one hides it.

Modern Life, Mysterious, Secrecy

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.171, Oxford University Press on Demand

Just as the orator marks his good things by a dramatic pause, or by raising and lowering his voice, or by gesture, so the writer marks his epigrams with italics, setting the little gem, so to speak, like a jeweler.

Voice, Gestures, Littles

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.

Funny, Sarcastic, Mother Daughter

Oscar Wilde (2015). “The Picture of Dorian Gray (Diversion Classics)”, p.54, Diversion Books

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.

Morning, Writing, Perfection

Oscar Wilde (2007). “Epigrams of Oscar Wilde”, p.225, Wordsworth Editions

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

Beautiful, London, Brilliant

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

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.

Wise, Philosophy, Men

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

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

Funny, Country, Hunting

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

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

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

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

Business, Work, Thinking

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.

Art, Passion, People

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

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.

Hypocrite, Land, People

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

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

Dark, Secret, Mind

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

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.

Men, Doctors, Wife

"The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays".

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

Inspirational, Funny, Witty

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

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

Peace, Dies

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