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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde Quotes

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Famous Oscar Wilde Quotes

“Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation, and conversation must have a common basis, and between two people of widely different culture the only common basis possible is the lowest level.”

PeopleTwoDifferentCultureLevelsCommonRelationshipConversationBasesCompanionshipLowestDifferent Cultures
Book:De Profundis: The Ballad of Reading Gaol and Other Writings
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“For life is terribly deficient in form. Its catastrophes happen in the wrong way and to the wrong people. There is a grotesque horror about its comedies, and its tragedies seem to culminate in farce.”

PeopleWaySeemsHappensFormLife IsComedyHorrorTragedyCatastropheWrong WayGrotesqueFarce
Book:The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays
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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.”

PeopleArtSometimesPassionLiteratureSecretMysteryEffectsOrdinaryIntellectVeilsOrdinary PeopleMystery Of Life
Book:The Essential 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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“I am not laughing, Dorian; at least I am not laughing at you. But you should not say the greatest romance of your life. You should say the first romance of your life. You will always be loved, and you will always be in love with love. A grande passion is the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country. Don't be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning.”

PeopleShouldFirstsCountryUseRomancePassionClassLaughingPrivilegeStoresIdleExquisite
Book:The picture of Dorian Gray/Le portrait de Dorian Gray
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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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“It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion. A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”

PeopleMenWantYearsEndsUseEnjoyPleasureEmotionMastersSorrowMercyShallowSelf Mastery
Book:The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts
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“The world has become sad because a puppet was once melancholy. The nihilist, that strange martyr who has no faith, who goes to the stake without enthusiasm, and dies for what he does not believe in, is a purely literary product. He was invented by Turgenev, and completed by Dostoevsky. Robespierre came out of the pages of Rousseau as surely as the People's Palace rose out debris of a novel. Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it, but moulds it to its purpose.”

PeopleWorldBelieveDoePurposeDiesLiteratureNovelStrangeProductsPagesRoseEnthusiasmCopiesMelancholyStakesMartyrPalacesAnticipatePuppetsMouldDebrisNihilist
Book:De Profundis: The Ballad of Reading Gaol and Other Writings
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“People say sometimes that Beauty is superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”

PeopleWorldMaySometimesWonderMysteryJudgingAppearanceInvisibleVisibleShallowSuperficialShallownessDo Not Judge
Book:The Picture of Dorian Gray (Diversion Classics)
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“What a fuss people make about fidelity!" exclaimed Lord Henry. "Why, even in love it is purely a question for physiology. It has nothing to do with our own will. Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot: that is all one can say.”

PeopleMenWantLoveYoungLordFaithfulYoung ManOld ManFaithfulnessFidelityBeing FaithfulPhysiologyFaithlessLord Henry
Book:The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts
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