“Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.”

— Oscar Wilde , book The Nightingale and the Rose

Source: The Nightingale and the Rose

Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Oscar Wilde 812

Irish writer and poet 1854–1900

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“Why, what a wonderful piece of luck! Here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name.”

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“More than all the thoughts and feelings I have written down. I don't pretend to be a poet. I feel happy enough when someone is willing to read what I have written.”

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“I have spent myself on all kinds of things … I have advanced much politically but I have written little and moreover have written it badly.”

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“I regard my life as rather a failure in the only thing in which I wanted it to succeed. I have not written the books I ought to have written and I have written a lot of books I should not have written.”

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Context: I am very honoured by your wanting to write a life of me. But the fact is I regard my life as rather a failure in the only thing in which I wanted it to succeed. I have not written the books I ought to have written and I have written a lot of books I should not have written. My life as lived by me has been interesting to me but to write truthfully about it would probably cause much pain to people close to me — and I always feel that the feelings of the living are more important than the monuments of the dead.

“Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.”

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Oscar Wilde 812

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