Oscar Wilde: Trending quotes (page 16)

“this woman is a genius in the day time and a beauty at night”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Source: An Ideal Husband

Beauty , Time , Night

“The true perfection of man lies not in what man has, but in what man is.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: For the recognition of private property has really harmed Individualism, and obscured it, by confusing a man with what he possesses. It has led Individualism entirely astray. It has made gain not growth its aim. So that man thought that the important thing was to have, and did not know that the important thing is to be. The true perfection of man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is. Private property has crushed true Individualism, and set up an Individualism that is false. It has debarred one part of the community from being individual by starving them. It has debarred the other part of the community from being individual by putting them on the wrong road and encumbering them.

Perfection

“It is a great mistake for men to give up paying compliments, for when they give up saying what is charming, they give up thinking what is charming.”

Oscar Wilde

Men , Thinking

“One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.”

Oscar Wilde

People , Way , Past

“You can have your secret as long as I have your heart[. ]”

Oscar Wilde book The Canterville Ghost

Source: The Canterville Ghost

Secret , Heart

“It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal.”

Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. (1889), p. 5
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan

“My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn't a dentist. It produces false impression”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

Falseness

“I don’t regret for a single moment having lived for pleasure.
I did it to the full, as one should do everything that one does. There was no pleasure I did not experience.”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

Source: De Profundis

Pleasure

“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.”

Oscar Wilde

“How clever are you, my dear! You never mean a single word you say!”

Oscar Wilde

“The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married.”

Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance

Source: A Woman of No Importance

People , Dependency , Happiness

“High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: All modes of government are failures. Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. Oligarchies are unjust to the many, and ochlocracies are unjust to the few. High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

People , Hope , Democracy

“LORD ILLINGWORTH: The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life.
MRS ALLONBY: And the body is born young and grows old. That is life's tragedy.”

Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance

Source: A Woman of No Importance

Life , Soul

“My desire to live is as intense as ever, and though my heart is broken, hearts are made to be broken: that is why God sends sorrow into the world.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde

God , World , Heart

“You can't possibly ask me to go without having some dinner. It's absurd. I never go without my dinner. No one ever does, except vegetarians and people like that.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest