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Oscar Wilde

106 quotes

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet and playwright who became one of the most celebrated writers of the late Victorian era. Famous for his biting wit, flamboyant style, and masterful use of language, Wilde wrote enduring works including *The Importance of Being Earnest* and *The Picture of Dorian Gray*.

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”

— Oscar Wilde

Art

All Quotes by Oscar Wilde

“Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes.”

— Oscar Wilde

Men

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”

— Oscar Wilde

Experience

“Work is the curse of the drinking classes.”

— Oscar Wilde

Work

“There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores the better.”

— Oscar Wilde

Beauty

“One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.”

— Oscar Wilde

Death

“In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good

“There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

— Oscar Wilde

Life

“If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.”

— Oscar Wilde

Society

“Men marry because they are tired women, because they are curious both are disappointed.”

— Oscar Wilde

Men

“I want my food dead. Not sick, not dying, dead.”

— Oscar Wilde

Food

“Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.”

— Oscar Wilde

Romantic

“How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive.”

— Oscar Wilde

Marriage

“If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.”

— Oscar Wilde

Life

“I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything.”

— Oscar Wilde

Love

“Those whom the gods love grow young.”

— Oscar Wilde

Love

“I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”

— Oscar Wilde

God

“Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good

“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

— Oscar Wilde

Life

“There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.”

— Oscar Wilde

Money

“It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.”

— Oscar Wilde

Art