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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde Quotes

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Famous Oscar Wilde Quotes

“You know I have loved him always. But we are very poor. Who, being loved, is poor? Oh, no one. I hate my riches. They are a burden.”

KnowsHatePoorI HateBurdenRichesBeing Loved
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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“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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“She has form," he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove - "that cannot be denied to her; but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style, without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others. She thinks merely of music, and everybody knows that arts are selfish. Still, it must be admitted that she has some beautiful notes in her voice. What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good.”

ThinkingKnowsMeanArtSaidStillsFactsFeelingsBeautifulFormArtistVoiceSacrificeStyleNotesSelfishPracticalsPitySincerityDeniedGrove
Book:The Happy Prince and Other Stories (Illustrated Edition)
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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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“When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me. Indeed, as any one who knows me intimately will tell you, I refuse everything except food and drink. At the present moment I am eating muffins because I am unhappy. Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins.”

KnowsMomentsTroubleDrinkEatingRefuseUnhappyPresent MomentKnow MeConsoleFood And DrinkMuffins
Book:Annotated The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People with English Grammar Exercises: by Oscar Wilde (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
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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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“The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate of it. The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result.”

KnowsHumansGrowthNatureResultsQualityFailingHuman NatureRevolutionDevelopmentErrorsRelyRebelliousAdmirableFrench Revolution
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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“But what is the good of friendship if one cannot say exactly what one means? Anybody can say charming things and try to please and to flatter, but a true friend always says unpleasant things, and does not mind giving pain. Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.”

IfsKnowsGivingTryingMindMeanDoePainPleaseCharmingTrue FriendDoing GoodReally True
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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“[T]he recognition of private property has really harmed Individualism, and obscured it, by confusing a man with what he possesses. It has led Individualism entirely astray. It has made gain, not growth its aim. So that man thought that the important thing is to have, and did not know that the important thing is to be.”

KnowsMenMadeImportantGrowthGainsAimImportant ThingsPropertyRecognitionIndividualismConfusingPrivate PropertySoul Man
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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