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Oscar Wilde Quotes
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812 Quotes on Love, Forgiveness, Rebellion, and Embracing Your Unique Voice

Experience the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde through his most famous quotes. From the importance of love and forgiveness to the rebellion within every woman, delve into the captivating world of Wilde's words and be inspired to embrace your own unique voice.

Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright who gained popularity in London in the late 19th century. Known for his epigrams and plays, Wilde achieved great success with works such as The Picture of Dorian Gray. He was also infamous for his conviction for gross indecency, resulting in imprisonment and ultimately, his early death at the age of 46.

Born to Anglo-Irish parents in Dublin, Wilde showed exceptional talent and intellect from a young age. After studying at prestigious universities, he became associated with aestheticism and immersed himself in literary pursuits. With his sharp wit and extravagant style, Wilde became a prominent figure in social circles. He expressed his artistic ideas through various literary endeavors, including poetry, lectures, and journalism.

Wilde’s fascination with art led him to write dramas that combined aesthetic details with broader societal themes. Although faced with obstacles such as the prohibition of biblical subjects on English stages, he proved resilient and went on to become one of the most successful playwrights of his time. However, his fame took a dramatic turn when he prosecuted the Marquess of Queensberry for libel due to their connection through Lord Alfred Douglas. The trial resulted not only in Wilde dropping charges but also in his arrest and conviction for homosexual acts.

While serving his sentence, Wilde penned De Profundis, a reflective letter that delves into his spiritual journey during his trials. Upon release, he fled to France where he wrote what would be his last work - The Ballad of Reading Gaol - an introspective poem inspired by the harsh realities of prison life. Wilde never returned to Ireland or Britain before his untimely demise. Despite enduring personal turmoil and societal backlash, Oscar Wilde left an indelible mark on literature and continues to be remembered as one of history's most influential writers.

✵ 16. October 1854 – 30. November 1900
Oscar Wilde photo
Oscar Wilde: 812 quotes1011 likes

Oscar Wilde Quotes

“To deny one's own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one's own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

Source: De Profundis

“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

“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

“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

“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.

“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

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

Oscar Wilde

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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.

“A burnt child loves the fire.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“If people are dishonest once, they will be dishonest a second time. And honest people should keep away from them. (Lady Chiltern)”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Source: An Ideal Husband

“I will not bare my soul to their shallow prying eyes. My heart shall never be put under their microscope.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Variant: She is very clever, too clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“One is tempted to define man as a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.”

Oscar Wilde

The Critic as Artist (1891), Part II

“The curves of your lips rewrite history.”

Oscar Wilde

“And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

The Philosophy of Dress, The New-York Tribune, 1885. For an analysis see Fashion a Form of Ugliness http://www.oscarwildeinamerica.org/quotations/fashion-a-form-of-ugliness.html <br class="br">Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Circumstances should never alter principles!”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Source: An Ideal Husband

“I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Variant: You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“What art seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: Art is Individualism, and Individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. Therein lies its immense value. For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.

“I am a born antinomian. I am one of those who are made for exceptions, not for laws. But while I see that there is nothing wrong in what one does, I see that there is something wrong in what one becomes.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: De Profundis and Other Writings

“Good heavens! how marriage ruins a man! It's as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive.”

Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan

Source: Lady Windermere's Fan

“Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Spontaneity is a meticulously prepared art”

Oscar Wilde

“The world seemed to me fine because you were in it, and goodness more real because you lived.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Source: An Ideal Husband

“Muffins should always be eaten quite calmly, as it is the only way to eat them!”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“What a silly thing love is! It is not half as useful as logic, for it does not prove anything and it is always telling one things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true.”

Oscar Wilde

“Cecily. This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade.
Gwendolen. [Satirically. ] I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Oh, I don’t care about Jack. I don’t care for anybody in the whole world but you. I love you, Cecily. You will marry me, won’t you?
You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months.
For the last three months?”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“I don't know how to talk.
Oh! talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you, and at the end of your first season you will have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact.”

Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance

Source: A Woman of No Importance

“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”

Oscar Wilde

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

“Even things that are true can be proved.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“When a golden girl can win
Prayer from out the lips of sin,
When the barren almond bears,
And a little child gives away its tears,
Then shall all the house be still
And peace come to Canterville.”

Oscar Wilde book The Canterville Ghost

Source: The Canterville Ghost

“My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.”

Oscar Wilde