"A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection."
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Quote collection
Oscar Wilde quotes (page 57 of 93)
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"There is no necessity to separate the monarch from the mob; all authority is equally bad."
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"The history of women is the history of the worst form of tyranny the world has ever known. The tyranny of the weak over the strong. It is the only tyranny that lasts."
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"The man who says he has exhausted life generally means that life has exhausted him."
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"The truth is never pure and rarely simple."
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"I never saw anybody take so long to dress, and with such little result."
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"Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless. . ."
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"Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef."
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"Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief."
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"I knew nothing but shadows and I thought them to be real."
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"To stake all one's life on a single moment, to risk everything on one throw, whether the stake be power or pleasure, I care not - there is no weakness in that."
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"I expect I shall have to die beyond my means."
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"Well, one must be serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life."
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"Each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved."
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"I put my talent in my work, I save my Genius for my life."
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"The ugly and stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live-- undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They never bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Henry; my brains, such as they are-- my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks-- we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly."
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"Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away."
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"If it took Labouchere three columns to prove that I was forgotten, then there is no difference between fame and obscurity."
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"To be good, according to the vulgar standard of goodness, is obviously quite easy. It merely requires a certain amount of sordid terror, a certain lack of imaginative thought, and a certain low passion for middle-class respectability."
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"When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring."
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