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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Also found in variants such as "A true friend stabs you in the front". The earliest known example of this quote comes from Walter Winchell's syndicated newspaper column in mid-January 1955: 'On Broadway, cynically reports Jimmy Nelson, "a true friend is one who stabs you in the front"' The earliest version of this quote found in Google Books is from 1958, where the quote "A true friend is one who stabs you in the front" is attributed to actor Steve Dunne https://books.google.com/books?id=MF5-AAAAMAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig2JCRnKrMAhUC42MKHaNzCGsQ6AEIHDAA. In 1981, a similar quote: "He is a fine friend. He stabs you in the front" was attributed to Hollywood writer and producer Leonard Levinson https://books.google.com/books?id=Xbe8zbfuVLgC&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMjOrQnKrMAhVL2GMKHcQQDSgQ6AEIHTAA. In 1984, an article in Ms. Magazine https://books.google.com/books?id=sfIbAQAAMAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMjOrQnKrMAhVL2GMKHcQQDSgQ6AEIJzAC stated that "the Hollywood definition of a friend" was "someone who stabs you in the front". The earliest attribution to Oscar Wilde was from 1989 https://books.google.com/books?id=CnQJAAAAIAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22+wilde&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22+wilde&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2oqLfnKrMAhVG52MKHXdPANkQ6AEIJTAC: "A good friend is one who stabs you in the front". No source was given. Disputed Variant: A good friend will always stab you in the front. Source: e.g. "Broadway and Elsewhere" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/3706522/, Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN), 1955-01-16, p. 4

“Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return. With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems to circle round one centre of pain.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Source: De Profundis and Other Writings

“Art only begins where Imitation ends.”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

Source: De Profundis

“In war, the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich makes slaves of the poor.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Source: The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I

“You and I will always be friends."

"Yet you poisoned me with a book once. I should not forgive that.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

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

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“The one charm about the past is that it is the past. But women never know when the curtain has fallen.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Variant: The one charm about the past is that it is the past.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“I love scrapes. They are the only things that are never serious."
"Oh, that's nonsense, Algy. You never talk anything but nonsense."
"Nobody ever does.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Lady Bracknell, Act I.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays
Context: I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.

“Life cheats us with shadows.
We ask it for pleasure.
It gives it to us with bitterness
and disappointment in its train.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“Oh, don't cough, Ernest. When one is dictating one should speak fluently and not cough. Besides, I don't know how to spell a cough.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Love is not fashionable anymore; the poets have killed it.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Source: The Complete Fairy Tales

“I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“I never take any notice to what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray