Oscar Wilde quotes - page 40

I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don't interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty. (Oscar Wilde)
Bad artists always admire each other's work. They call it being large-minded and free from prejudice. But a truly great artist cannot conceive of life being shown, or beauty fashioned, under any conditions other than those he has selected. View quote
Oscar Wilde
He rides in the row at ten o clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don't call that leading an idle life, do you. View quote
Oscar Wilde
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. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Modern pictures are, no doubt, delightful to look at. At least, some of them are. But they are quite impossible to live with they are too clever, too assertive, too intellectual. Their meaning is too obvious, and their method too clearly defined. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Women have become so highly educated... that nothing should surprise us nowadays, except happy marriages. View quote
Oscar Wilde
It is exactly because a man cannot do a thing that he is a proper judge of it. View quote
Oscar Wilde
A man's very highest moment is, I have no doubt at all, when he kneels in the dust, and beats his breast, and tells all the sins of his life. View quote
Oscar Wilde
The liar at any rate recognizes that recreation, not instruction, is the aim of conversation, and is a far more civilised being than the blockhead who loudly expresses his disbelief in a story which is told simply for the amusement of the company. View quote
Oscar Wilde
The security of Society lies in custom and unconscious instinct, and the basis of the stability of Society, as a healthy organism, is the complete absence of any intelligence amongst its members. (Oscar Wilde)
People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under. To this question there is only one answer. The form of government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all. View quote
Oscar Wilde
If you are going to tell people the truth, you had better make them laugh or they will kill you. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Some temptations are so great it takes great courage to yield to them. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Youth There is nothing like youth. The middle-aged are mortgaged to Life. The old are in Life's lumber-room. But youth is the Lord of Life. Youth has a kingdom waiting for it. Every one is born a king, and most people die in exile. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Bad art is a great deal worse than no art at all. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Flowers are as common in the country as people are in London. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Marriage is the one subject on which all women agree and all men disagree. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Civilization requires slaves. Human slavery is wrong, insecure and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob. View quote
Oscar Wilde
While to the claims of charity a man may yield and yet be free, to the claims of conformity no man may yield and remain free at all. (Oscar Wilde)
To be entirely free, and at the same time, entirely dominated by law, is the eternal paradox of human life that we realise at every moment. View quote
Oscar Wilde
Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune. View quote
Oscar Wilde
The ancient historians gave us delightful fiction in the form of fact; the modern novelist presents us with dull facts under the guise of fiction. View quote
Oscar Wilde
You, who know all the secrets of life, tell me how to charm Sibyl Vane to love me! I want to make Romeo jealous, I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain. View quote
Oscar Wilde