Wilde Quotations

Often harsh, always witty, Oscar Wilde's works and conversation seem made to be quoted. This troubled genius is one of my favorite authors, and quite possibly the most brilliant mind of the Victorian age.
Plus, he's a lot of fun to read! :-)
-Ealasaid
All new, from the creators of Wilde, OscarGem! Click below to hear a random gem of Wildean Wisdom!

It is pure unadulterated country life. They get up early because they have so much to do and go to bed early because they have so little to think about.
-------Oscar Wilde
humor, all

Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
-------Oscar Wilde
humor, all

I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
-------Oscar Wilde
theater, humor, movies, all

In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.
-------Oscar Wilde
humor, proverb, all

It is absurd to say that there are neither ruins nor curiosities in America when they have their mothers and their manners.
-------Oscar Wilde
insult, humor, all

Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.
-------Oscar Wilde
humor, insult, all

It only the intellectually lost who ever argue.
-------Oscar Wilde
proverb, all

When good Americans die they go to Paris; when bad Americans die they go to America.
-------Oscar Wilde
humor, insult, all

It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.
-------Oscar Wilde
debt, all

The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has yet discovered.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
humor, all

If the poor only had profiles there would be no difficulty in solving the problem of poverty.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
humor, prostitution, all

Those who see any difference between soul and body have neither.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

A really well-made buttonhole is the only link between Art and Nature.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
humor, all

Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
humor, all

Nothing that actually occurs is of the smallest importance.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
life, all

Dullness is the coming of age of seriosness.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

In all unimportant matters, style, not sincerity, is the essential.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
life, humor, all

If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
humor, proverb, all

Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. Nothing ages like happiness.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
life, all

It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

No crime is vulgar, but all vulgarity is crime. Vulgarity is the conduct of others.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Only the shallow know themselves.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Time is a waste of money.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

One should always be a little improbable.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

There is a fatality about all good resolutions. They are invariabley made too soon.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

The only way to atone for being occaisionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

To be premature is to be perfect.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Any preoccupation with ideas of what is right or wrong in conduct shows an arrested intellectual development.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

In examinations the foolish ask questions that the wise cannot answer.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Greek dress was in its essence inartistic. Nothing should reveal the body but the body.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

It is only the superficial qualities that last. Man's deeper nature is soon found out.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Industry is the root of all ugliness.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

The ages live in history through their anachronisms.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

It is only the gods who taste of death. Apollo has passed away, but Hyacinth, whom men say he slew, lives on. Nero and Narcissus are always with us.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

The old believe everything: the middle-aged suspect everything: the young know everything.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

The condition of perfection is idleness: the aim of perfection is youth.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Only the great masters of style every succeed in being obscure.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

There is something tragic about the enormous munber of men there are in England at the present moment who start life with perfect profiles, and end by adopting some useful profession.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
-------Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young
, all

Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Public opinion exists only when there are no ideas.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

The English are always degrading truths into facts. When a truth becomes a fact it loses all its intellectual value.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

It is a very sad thing that now-a-days there is so little useless information.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

The only link between Literature and the Drama left to us in England at the present moment is the bill of the play.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

In the old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Now-a-days books are written by the public and read by nobody.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Most women are so artificial that they have no sense of Art. Most men are so natural that they have no sense of Beauty.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Frendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

What is abnormal in Life stands in normal relations to Art. It is the only thing in Life that stands in normal relations to Art.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

The only thing that the artist cannot see is the obvious. The only thing that th epublic can see is the obvious. The result is the criticism of the journalist.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

To be really medieaval one should have no body. to be really modern one should have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Dandyism is the assertion of the absolute modernity of Beauty.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. The only thing that can console one for being rich is economy.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

One should never listen. To listen is a sign of indifference to one's hearers.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Even the disciple has his uses. He stands behind one's throne, and at the very moment of one's triumph whispers in one's ear that, after all, one is immortal.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

The criminal classes are so close to us that even the policeman can see them. They are so far away from us that only the poet can understand them.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all

Those whom the gods love grow young.
-------Oscar Wilde, Maxims for the Use of the Overeducated
, all