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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*.

“Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our gigantic intellects.”

— Oscar Wilde

Love

All Quotes by Oscar Wilde

“I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good

“If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world.”

— Oscar Wilde

Sympathy

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”

— Oscar Wilde

Life

“Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement.”

— Oscar Wilde

Science

“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

“The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.”

— Oscar Wilde

Forgiveness

“I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good

“True friends stab you in the front.”

— Oscar Wilde

Friendship

“When good Americans die they go to Paris.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good

“Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.”

— Oscar Wilde

Death

“Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.”

— Oscar Wilde

Friendship

“It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art.”

— Oscar Wilde

Art

“As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.”

— Oscar Wilde

War

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

— Oscar Wilde

God

“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.”

— Oscar Wilde

Marriage

“The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.”

— Oscar Wilde

Imagination

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”

— Oscar Wilde

Truth

“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.”

— Oscar Wilde

Attitude

“Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there.”

— Oscar Wilde

Good