Quotes by Oscar Wilde

About Oscar Wilde:

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

She is a peacock in everything but beauty!

Oscar Wilde

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Oscar Wilde

Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.

Oscar Wilde

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

Oscar Wilde

A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.

Oscar Wilde

Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.

Oscar Wilde

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

Oscar Wilde

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

Oscar Wilde

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Oscar Wilde

All art is quite useless.

Oscar Wilde

Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Oscar Wilde

People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.

Oscar Wilde

People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self. Of course, they are charitable. They feed the hungry and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Cou...

Oscar Wilde

But youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms.

Oscar Wilde

[W]as verabscheuenswerter sei, die Zeichen der Sünde oder die des Alter.

Oscar Wilde

The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that. But the future was inevitable.

Oscar Wilde

Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.

Oscar Wilde

Now and then, however, he is horribly thoughtless, and seems to take a real delight in giving me pain. Then I feel, Harry, that I have given away my whole soul to some one who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat, a bit of decoration t...

Oscar Wilde

Poets are not so scrupulous as you are. They know how useful passion is for publication. Nowadays a broken heart will run to many editions." "I hate them for it," cried Hallward. "An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of hi...

Oscar Wilde

An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them.

Oscar Wilde

I find him in the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and subtleties of certain colours.

Oscar Wilde

Author Bio

  • NameOscar Wilde
  • DescriptionIrish writer and poet
  • AliasesOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
  • BornOctober 16, 1854
  • DiedNovember 30, 1900
  • CountryUnited Kingdom Of Great Britain And Ireland
  • ProfessionPoet; Playwright; Short Story Writer; Journalist; Children's Writer; Novelist
  • WorksThe Importance Of Being Earnest; The Picture Of Dorian Gray