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Oscar Wilde Quotes

Writer

Oscar Wilde, renowned for his sharp wit and literary brilliance, captivated the world with his plays, essays, and epigrams. His quotes reflect his keen observations on society, human behavior, and the ironies of life, often delivered with humor and elegance. Together, they offer timeless insights that entertain, provoke thought, and inspire reflection on the human experience.
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The proper basis for marriage is mutual misunderstanding. The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married. One should always be in love - that's the reason one should never marry.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
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There was something in the clear, pine-scented air of that winter morning that seemed to bring him back his joyousness and his ardour for life.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.
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Requiescat

Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone
She is at rest.

Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
From Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
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Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
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I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
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To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
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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.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
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A flower blossoms for its own joy.
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Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
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The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
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Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
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What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise
From The Importance of Being Earnest
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I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
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I like men who have a future and women who have a past.
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Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
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Oh! it is absurd to have a hard-and-fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
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Why can't these American women stay in their own country? They are always telling us that it is the paradise for women.'

'It is. That is the reason why, like Eve, they are so excessively anxious to get out of it.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
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I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Imagination is a quality that was given to man compensate him from whats not. The sense of humor was given to console him from what is.
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It would kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
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I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything. Your picture has taught me that. Lord Henry Wotton is perfectly right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
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We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
From Lady Windermere's Fan
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Every single human being should be the fulfilment of a prophecy: for every human being should be the realisation of some ideal, either in the mind of God or in the mind of man.
From De Profundis
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The proper basis for marriage is mutual misunderstanding. The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married. One should always be in love - that's the reason one should never marry.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There was something in the clear, pine-scented air of that winter morning that seemed to bring him back his joyousness and his ardour for life.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Requiescat

Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone
She is at rest.

Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
From Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
A flower blossoms for its own joy.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I like men who have a future and women who have a past.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Oh! it is absurd to have a hard-and-fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Why can't these American women stay in their own country? They are always telling us that it is the paradise for women.'

'It is. That is the reason why, like Eve, they are so excessively anxious to get out of it.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Imagination is a quality that was given to man compensate him from whats not. The sense of humor was given to console him from what is.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It would kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything. Your picture has taught me that. Lord Henry Wotton is perfectly right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
From Lady Windermere's Fan
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Every single human being should be the fulfilment of a prophecy: for every human being should be the realisation of some ideal, either in the mind of God or in the mind of man.
From De Profundis
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The proper basis for marriage is mutual misunderstanding. The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married. One should always be in love - that's the reason one should never marry.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There was something in the clear, pine-scented air of that winter morning that seemed to bring him back his joyousness and his ardour for life.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Requiescat

Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone
She is at rest.

Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
From Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
A flower blossoms for its own joy.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I like men who have a future and women who have a past.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Oh! it is absurd to have a hard-and-fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.
From The Importance of Being Earnest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Why can't these American women stay in their own country? They are always telling us that it is the paradise for women.'

'It is. That is the reason why, like Eve, they are so excessively anxious to get out of it.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Imagination is a quality that was given to man compensate him from whats not. The sense of humor was given to console him from what is.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It would kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything. Your picture has taught me that. Lord Henry Wotton is perfectly right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
From Lady Windermere's Fan
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Every single human being should be the fulfilment of a prophecy: for every human being should be the realisation of some ideal, either in the mind of God or in the mind of man.
From De Profundis
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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