“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan
Lord Darlington, Act I
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
“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? ]
“Ah! Don't say you agree with me. When people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.”
This also appears in Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), Act II
The Critic as Artist (1891), Part II
“Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.”
Mrs Chevely, Act I
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Oscar Wilde book The Happy Prince and Other Tales
" The Remarkable Rocket http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/179/". <br class="br">The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) <br class="br">Variant: Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.
“One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”
Variant: I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Variant: One of the great secrets of life. Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense and discover too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.”
Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest