Top 25 Quotes by Oscar Wilde of 1859 - Page 19

Pleasures may turn a heart to stone, riches may make it callous, but sorrows cannot break it. Hearts live by being wounded.

Pleasures may turn a heart to stone, riches may make it callous, but sorrows cannot break it. Hearts live by being wounded.

Oscar Wilde

Heart, Sorrow, May

Oscar Wilde, Peter Raby (2008). “The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Lady Windermere's Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.151, Oxford Paperbacks

It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that genius lasts longer than beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place. The thoroughly well-informed man--that is the modern ideal. And the mind of the thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-a-brac shop, all monsters and dust, with everything priced above its proper value.

Oscar Wilde

Pain, Struggle, Silly

Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.20, GENERAL PRESS

When people talk to me about the weather, I always feel they mean something else.

Oscar Wilde

Mean, Weather, People

No work of art ever puts forward views. Views belong to people who are not artists.

Oscar Wilde

Art, Views, People

Oscar Wilde (1969). “The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde”, p.438, University of Chicago Press

Every impulse we strangle will only poison us.

Oscar Wilde

Poison, Impulse

If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.

Oscar Wilde

Funny, Sarcastic, Optimism

Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.488, Wordsworth Editions

Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.

Oscar Wilde

Inspirational, Life, Motivational

Oscar Wilde (2015). “An Ideal Husband”, p.40, Sheba Blake Publishing

I wrote when I did not know life; now that I do know the meaning of life, I have no more to write. Life cannot be written; life can only be lived.

Oscar Wilde

Writing, Meaning Of Life, Knows

Oscar Wilde (2012). “Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations”, p.4, Courier Corporation

I am not laughing, Dorian; at least I am not laughing at you. But you should not say the greatest romance of your life. You should say the first romance of your life. You will always be loved, and you will always be in love with love. A grande passion is the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country. Don't be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning.

Oscar Wilde

Country, Passion, Class

Oscar Wilde (2016). “The picture of Dorian Gray/Le portrait de Dorian Gray”, p.60, Oscar Wilde

I wonder who it was defined man as a rational animal. It was the most premature definition ever given. Man is many things, but he is not rational.

Oscar Wilde

Animal, Men, Definitions

The Picture of Dorian Gray ch. 2 (1891)

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

Oscar Wilde

Self, Luxury, Blame

The Picture of Dorian Gray ch. 8 (1891)

One's only real life is the life one never leads.

Oscar Wilde

Life, Real, Real Life

Never trust a woman who wears mauve, whatever her age may be, or a woman over thirty-five who is fond of pink ribbons.

Oscar Wilde

Age, May, Ribbons

Oscar Wilde (2007). “Epigrams of Oscar Wilde”, p.15, Wordsworth Editions

Ones real life is often the life that one does not lead.

Oscar Wilde

Funny, Trust, Being Yourself

Oscar Wilde (2012). “The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde”, p.64, Courier Corporation

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Oscar Wilde

Inspirational, Funny, Leadership

'Lady Windermere's Fan' (1892) act 3

Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.

Oscar Wilde

Inspirational, Attitude, Two

Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.

Oscar Wilde

Life Is, Should

Oscar Wilde (2015). “A Woman of No Importance”, p.7, Sheba Blake Publishing

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.

Oscar Wilde

Keeping Secrets, Giving, Guilt

The Picture of Dorian Gray ch. 8 (1891)

In fact, the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people.... The Japanese people are ... simply a mode of style, an exquisite fancy of art.

Oscar Wilde

Country, Art, Japan

Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.755, GENERAL PRESS

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

Oscar Wilde

Rainy Day, Weather, Lasts

The proper basis for marriage is a mutual misunderstanding.

Oscar Wilde

Marriage, Bases, Mutual

Oscar Wilde (2012). “Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations”, p.21, Courier Corporation

As one reads history ... one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted.

Oscar Wilde

Funny, Humor, Punishment

Oscar Wilde (2016). “Aphorisms”, p.50, Oscar Wilde

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

Oscar Wilde

Positive, Funny Inspirational, Attitude

Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Joseph Bristow, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts”, p.52, Oxford University Press on Demand