xy
@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Lord Darlington, Act III.
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
Variant: What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Context: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. [Answering the question, what is a cynic? ]
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
A version of this quote was published anonymously in an insurance magazine in 1908 https://books.google.com/books?id=S2JJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA375&dq=%22others+whenever+they+go%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwja94i3iaXLAhUY7mMKHW5fAGIQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=%22others%20whenever%20they%20go%22&f=false. The earliest attribution to Wilde was in 1955 https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22others+whenever+they+go%22+wilde#hl=en&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min:1900%2Ccd_max:1999&tbm=bks&q=%22others+whenever+they+go+oscar+wilde+jive%22; no source in Wilde's writings has been found. <br class="br">Disputed
“I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.
“The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: The very essence of romance is uncertainty.
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
In a letter to Ada Leverson [Sphinx] recorded in her book Letters To The Sphinx From Oscar Wilde and Reminiscences of the Author (1930)
“A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
The Portrait of Mr. W. H. http://www.planetmonk.com/wilde/portrait/wh01.html (1889)
“I am not young enough to know everything.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: I am not young enough to know everything.
“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Context: Jack: That, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple.
Algernon: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!
Act I
Often quoted as "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Already Taken.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Anonymous advertising copywriter for Menards chain of hardware stores (2000), according to Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/20/be-yourself <br class="br">Misattributed
“We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.”
Oscar Wilde book The Canterville Ghost
Source: The Canterville Ghost http://www.oscarwildecollection.com/savile/canterville.c1.html (1887). For history and analysis of the quote see Common Language http://oscarwildeinamerica.org/quotations/common-language.html.
Sir Robert Chiltern, Act II
Source: An Ideal Husband (1895)