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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde Quotes

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Famous Oscar Wilde Quotes

“But whether I become a believer or remain an agnostic, my belief or disbelief must derive its source from within, not from without. I, myself, must create its symbols. The transcendental is that which produces its own form. I will never discover its secret if I do not find it in my own heart; if I do not possess it already I shall never be able to acquire it.”

IfsHeartAbleFormBeliefMy OwnSecretProduceSourceBelieverSymbolsAcquireAgnosticDisbeliefTranscendental
Book:The Complete Writings of Oscar Wilde: What never dies
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“If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want.”

IfsThinkingWantDesireAttitudePositivePerspectiveGratitudeAppreciationPositive AttitudeMy AttitudePositive Thinking And AttitudeBest AttitudeKeep A Positive AttitudePositive Thinking AttitudeLife AttitudeAttitude And LifePositive Thinking SuccessShort Positive AttitudeAttitudes And SuccessPositive Attitude In LifePositive Attitude Towards LifePositive Attitude And Success
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life. We are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices. I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expression that personality selects is absolutely delightful to me.”

PeopleIfsWorldCommonAttitudeMoralAirExpressionPersonalityPrejudiceAbsurdInterfereCharmingDelightful
Book:The Picture Of Dorian Gray
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“You silly Arthur! If you knew anything about...anything, which you don't, you would know that I adore you. Everyone in London knows it except you. It is a public scandal the way I adore you. I have been going about for the last six months telling the whole of society that I adore you. I wonder you consent to have anything to say to me. I have no character left at all. At least, I feel so happy that I am quite sure I have no character left at all.”

IfsKnowsWayFeelsHas BeensWholeCharacterLastsLeftWonderMonthsSixLondonSillyConsentAdoreSix MonthsScandalArthurAdore YouI Adore You
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect---simply a confession of failures. Faithfulness! I must analyse it some day. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up. But I don't want to interrupt you. Go on with your story.”

PeopleIfsWantStoriesMightPassionImaginationBoysEmotionalGoes OnPicksPropertyDearIntellectLoyaltyCustomsNot AfraidConfessionConsistencyShallowFaithfulnessFidelityEmotional LifeLethargy
Book:Picture of Dorian Gray
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“After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own. Music always seems to me to produce that effect. It creates for one a past of which one has been ignorant, and fills one with a sense of sorrows that have been hidden from one’s tears.”

IfsFeelsHas BeensSeemsPastMy OwnSinEffectsProduceTearsSorrowTragedyCommittedIgnorantMourningWeeping
Book:The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde
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“There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtures are not real to him. His sins, if there are such thing as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.”

IfsThinkingGivingPersonsDoeRealSoulPassionActorsNaturalSinWrittenInfluenceEchoesBorrowedGood Influences
Book:The Essential Oscar Wilde
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“He had that curious love of green, which in individuals is always the sign of a subtle artistic temperament, and in nations is said to denote a laxity, if not a decadence of morals.”

IfsLoveSaidIndividualNationsMoralColorGreenCuriousArtisticSubtleTemperamentDecadenceArtistic Temperament
Book:Collected Works of Oscar Wilde: The Plays, the Poems, the Stories and the Essays Including De Profundis
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“Bunbury? Oh, he was quite exploded. Exploded! Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he is well punished for his morbidity. My dear Aunt Augusta, I mean he was found out! The doctors found out that Bunbury could not , that is what I mean—so Bunbury died. He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians.”

IfsWellsMeanSeemsFoundSocialOpinionDoctorsDiedVictimDearRevolutionaryPhysiciansLegislationAuntOutrageGreat ConfidenceAugustaMorbidity
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact.”

IfsTryingBelieveMayFactsRomanceI BelieveForgetMarriedEssenceAcceptedUncertaintyExcitementDefiniteEarnestProposalVery RomanticImportance Of Being Earnest
Book:The Best of Oscar Wilde: Selected Plays and Writings
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“The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.”

IfsHandsCareAsksSinKnownDyingPureKissingSickLipsPurityPillowBrows
Book:The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Lady Windermere's Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest
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“I did not think I should be ever loved: do you indeed Love me so much as now you say you do? Ask of the sea-bird if it loves the sea, Ask of the roses if they love the rain, Ask of the little lark, that will not sing Till day break, if it loves to see the day: And yet, these are but empty images, Mere shadows of my love, which is a fire So great that all the waters of the main Can not avail to quench it.”

IfsThinkingShouldLittlesAsksWaterBreakFireSeaBirdShadowRainEmptyRoseMereCan NotQuenchLarksLove RainSea Birds
Book:The Duchess of Padua: Easyread Large Bold Edition
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“Well, I can’t help going to see Sibyl play, even if it is only for an act. I get hungry for her presence; and when I think of the wonderful soul that is hidden away in that little ivory body, I am filled with awe." "You can dine with me to-night, Dorian, can’t you?" He shook his head. "To night she is Imogen," he answered, "and tomorrow night she will be Juliet." "When is she Sibyl Vane?" "Never." "I congratulate you.”

IfsThinkingWellsLittlesI CanSoulPlayHelpingBodyNightWonderfulTomorrowFilledHungryAweJulietIvoryDine
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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“Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations . . . I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest.”

IfsKnowsMenLittlesDoeMomentsNamesPleasureKnownProduceSolitudeSafeMarriedPityExceptionThrillVibrationsNotoriousDomesticity
Book:The Plays of Oscar Wilde
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“Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world. I cannot conceive of any other explanation. I am convinced that there is no other, and that if the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. Pleasure for the beautiful body, but pain for the beautiful soul.”

IfsMenWorldWayKindHas BeensMadeSaidSoulBodyHandsSeemsPainBeautifulSufferingPleasureAmountSorrowBuiltPerfectionExtraordinaryConvincedExplanationStatureBeautiful SoulBeautiful Body
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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“The ugly and stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live-- undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They never bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Henry; my brains, such as they are-- my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks-- we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.”

IfsKnowsWorldShouldLooksMayArtPlayHandsSufferingGivenWealthBrainStupidThis WorldVictoryDefeatUglyRuinsAliensEaseGrayIndifferentLooking GoodStupid People
Book:Oscar Wilde Collection
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“How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June… . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that—for that—I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!”

IfsWorldWayGivingStillsSoulWholeEyeYoungGrowsParticularWhole WorldHorribleMy SoulFixedHis EyesGrayPortraitsJuneDorian GreyPortrait Of Dorian Gray
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it keep what I must lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me and gives something to it. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now! Why did you paint it? It will mock me some day—mock me horribly!”

IfsWayGivingShouldDoeMomentsDiesLosesPaintJealousPortraitsMockI Am Jealous
Book:The Picture of Dorian Gray (English French Edition illustrated): Le Portrait de Dorian Gray (Anglais Français édition illustré)
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“You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd your saying that your name isn't Ernest.”

IfsLooksPersonsNamesAnswersSawsAbsurdEarnest
Book:The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. The Original Four-act Version
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“If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment. If you never know what you want to be, if you live what some might call the dynamic life but what I will call the artistic life, if each day you are unsure of who you are and what you know you will never become anything, and that is your reward.”

IfsKnowsWantMightJudgingPoliticianWho You AreRewardsWhat You WantPunishmentArtisticEach DayUnsureGrocersArtistic Life
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“JACK That is nonsense. If I marry a charming girl like Gwendolen, and she is the only girl I ever saw in my life that I would marry, I certainly won't want to know Bunbury. ALGERNON Then your wife will. You don't seem to realize, that in married life three is company and two is none. JACK That, my dear young friend, is the theory that the corrupt French Drama has been propounding for the last fifty years. ALGERNON Yes; and that the happy English home has proved in half the time.”

IfsKnowsWantYearsHas BeensTwoHomeSeemsLastsYoungGirlThreeRealizingHalfCompanySawsWifeTheoryDramaMarriedDearFiftyNonsenseCharmingMarried LifeYoung Friends
Book:The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Lady Windermere's Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest
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“Even men of the noblest possible moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical charms of others. Modern, no less then Ancient History, supplies us with many most painful examples of what I refer to. If it were not so, indeed, History would be quite unreadable.”

IfsMenCharacterWould BeMoralInfluenceModernExampleAncientPainfulCharmSuppliesSusceptibleMoral CharacterAncient History
Book:The Importance of Being Earnest
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“To be popular one must be a mediocrity." "Not with Women," said the duchess, shaking her head; "and women rule the world. I assure you we can't bear mediocrities. We women, as someone says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you ever love at all." "It seems to me that we never do anything else," murmered Dorian.”

IfsMenWorldSaidSeemsEyeBearsEarsMediocrityShakingDuchess
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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“Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed. People talk sometimes of secret vices, there are no such things. If a wretched man has a vice, it shows itself in the lines of his mouth, the droop of his eyelids, the moulding of his hands even.”

PeopleIfsMenWritingSometimesShowsHandsFacesLinesSinSecretMouthsVicesWretchedConcealedEyelids
Book:The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts
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“God knows; I won't be an Oxford don anyhow. I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious. Or perhaps I'll lead the life of pleasure for a time and then—who knows?—rest and do nothing. What does Plato say is the highest end that man can attain here below? To sit down and contemplate the good. Perhaps that will be the end of me too.”

IfsKnowsMenDoeEndsPleasurePoetHighestDown AndContemplatingPlatoGod KnowsOxfordNotorious
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“If it took Labouchere three columns to prove that I was forgotten, then there is no difference between fame and obscurity.”

IfsThreeDifferencesFameProveForgottenColumnsObscurity
Book:Decorative Art in America: A Lecture, Together with Letters, Reviews and Interviews. Edited, with an Introd. by Richard Butler Glaenzer
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“The honest ratepayer and his healthy family have no doubt often mocked at the dome-like forehead of the philosopher, and laughed over the strange perspective of the landscape that lies beneath him. If they really knew who he was, they would tremble. For Chuang Tsǔ spent his life in preaching the great creed of Inaction, and in pointing out the uselessness of all things.”

IfsLyingDoubtHonestStrangePerspectiveHealthyAll ThingsPhilosopherLandscapeNo DoubtLaughedCreedsPreachingPointingForeheadsInactionDomesUselessnessHealthy Family
Book:The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde
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“Alone, and without any reference to his neighbours, without any interference, the artist can fashion a beautiful thing; and if he does not do it solely for his own pleasure, he is not an artist at all.”

IfsDoeBeautifulArtistPleasureCreativityFashionBeautiful ThingsNeighbourBeing AloneInterference
Book:The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays
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“I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.”

IfsWholeNaturalEducationClassGoneViolenceModernEffectsDangerProduceIgnoranceSeriousTheoryProveImportanceEnglandFruitRateSquaresDelicateEarnestExoticUpper ClassActs Of ViolenceImportance Of Being EarnestModern Education
Author:Oscar Wilde
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