Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams and plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment which was followed by his early death.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
What is beautiful is a joy for all seasons and a possession for all eternity.
I can resist everything except temptation itself.
If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
I am not young enough to know everything.
It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
The brotherhood of man is not a mere poet's dream: it is a most depressing and humiliating reality.
A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.
Always love your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.
Duty is what one expects from others.
He hasn't an enemy in the world, and none of his friends like him.
Whenever one has anything unpleasant to say, one should always be quite candid.
No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
Wilde's parents were successful Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day.
Quotes and Thoughts of Oscar Wilde
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
What is beautiful is a joy for all seasons and a possession for all eternity.
I can resist everything except temptation itself.
If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
I am not young enough to know everything.
It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
The brotherhood of man is not a mere poet's dream: it is a most depressing and humiliating reality.
A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.
Always love your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.
Duty is what one expects from others.
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.
He hasn't an enemy in the world, and none of his friends like him.
Whenever one has anything unpleasant to say, one should always be quite candid.
No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
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