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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

“The only thing I cannot resist is temptation.”

Oscar Wilde

“The world is made by the singer for the dreamer.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: The Critic as Artist

“The burden of this world is too great for one man to bear, and the world’s sorrow too heavy for one heart to suffer.”

Oscar Wilde book A House of Pomegranates

Source: A House of Pomegranates

“Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.”

Oscar Wilde

“In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Source: An Ideal Husband

“Behind the perfection of a man's style, must lie the passion of a man's soul.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: Reviews

“Youth is the only thing worth having.”

Oscar Wilde

“A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

“I never read a book I must review; it prejudices you so.”

Oscar Wilde

“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”

Oscar Wilde

“God and other artists are always a little obscure…..”

Oscar Wilde

“Yes; poor Bunbury is a dreadful invalid.
Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shillyshallying with the question is absurd.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“LADY BRACKNELL

Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire?”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“I am afraid that woman appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Neither at things, nor at people should one look. Only in mirrors should one look, for mirrors do but show us masks.”

Oscar Wilde Salome

Source: Salomé

“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Even you are not rich enough, Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Mrs Cheveley, Act I
Usually quoted as: No man is rich enough to buy back his own past.
Source: An Ideal Husband (1895)

“Everyone quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.”

Oscar Wilde book The Happy Prince

Source: The Happy Prince

“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”

Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan

Cecil Graham http://books.google.com/books?id=8SzYgCNz-vwC&amp;q=&amp;quot;Gossip+is+charming+History+is+merely+gossip+But+scandal+is+gossip+made+tedious+by+morality&amp;quot;&amp;pg=PT52#v=onepage, Act III <br class="br">Variant: Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality. <br class="br">Source: Lady Windermere&#x27;s Fan (1892)

“Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses.”

Oscar Wilde

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray and Selected Stories

“The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism

“Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)

“The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“MRS ALLONBY Is she such a mystery?
LORD ILLINGWORTH She is more than a mystery - she is a mood.
MRS ALLONBY Moods don't last.
LORD ILLINGWORTH It is their chief charm.”

Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance

Source: A Woman of No Importance

“People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Variant: People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“The sky was pure opal now.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“You have never been poor, and never known what ambition is.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Source: An Ideal Husband

“There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“MRS ALLONBY I adore them. The clever people never listen, and the stupid people never talk.
HESTER I think the stupid people talk a great deal.
MRS ALLONBY Ah, I never listen!”

Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance

Source: A Woman of No Importance

“And down the long and silent street,
The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet,
Crept like a frightened girl.”

Oscar Wilde

The Harlot&#x27;s House http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/the_harlots_house.html, st. 12 (1885)

“Your days are your sonnets.”

Oscar Wilde

“I summed up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram.”

Oscar Wilde

Written in a letter from Reading Prison to Lord Alfred Douglas in early 1897

“Oh, I love London society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what society should be.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Mabel Chiltern, Act I
An Ideal Husband (1895)

“All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and degrades those over whom it is exercised.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)

“Oh! journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.”

Oscar Wilde

The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I

“I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell lies is much worse.”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

De Profundis (1897)

“All trials are trials for one’s life, just as all sentences are sentences of death;”

Oscar Wilde book De Profundis

De Profundis (1897)

“Psycholog­y is in its infancy, as a science. I hope in the interests of Art, it will always remain so.”

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, 1897, | Hart-Davis, ed., Letters of Wilde, p. 173 https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/19170/UBC_1974_A8%20S88.pdf

“I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.”

Oscar Wilde

J’ai mis tout mon génie dans ma vie; je n’ai mis que mon talent dans mes œuvres. <br class="br">Conversation with André Gide in Algiers, quoted in letter by Gide to his mother (30 January 1895); popularized by Gide and often subsequently quoted in Gide’s later work and in &quot;Gide, André (1869-1951)&quot; at Standing Ovations http://www.mr-oscar-wilde.de/about/g/gide.htm; the conversation was again recalled in Gide’s journal of (3 July 1913), quoted in “André Gide’s ‘Hommage à Oscar Wilde’ or ‘The Tale of Judas’”, Victoria Reid (University of Glasgow, UK), Chapter 5 in [Reception of Oscar Wilde in Europe], edited by Stefano Evangelista (8 July 2010) part of a Continuum series The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe, ISBN 978-1-84706005-1, pp. 98–99 http://books.google.com/books?id=-oBmdCTSJ5IC&amp;pg=PA98#v=onepage&amp;q=%22I%20put%20all%20my%20genius%22, also footnote 6 (p. 99), quoting 1996 edition of Gide’s journal, pp. 746–47]

“And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,
None knew so well as I:
For he who lives more lives than one
More deaths than one must die.”

Oscar Wilde book The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Pt. III, st. 35
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

“And all, but Lust, is turned to dust
In Humanity's machine.”

Oscar Wilde book The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Pt. V, st. 7
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)