353 quotes
We are specially designed to appeal to the sense of humour.
De Profundis (1897)
What Jesus does say is that man reaches his perfection, not through what he has, not even through what he does, but entirely through what he is.
His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning.
The Decay of Lying (1889)
The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.
The Critic as Artist (1891)
For southern wind and east wind meet
Where, girt and crowned by sword and fire,
England with bare and bloody feet
Climbs the steep road of wide empire.
Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
Scepticism is the beginning of faith.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
Consent does not give jurisdiction.
Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
The English are always degrading truths into facts. When a truth becomes a fact it loses all its intellectual value.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.
Lord Illingworth: Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.
A Woman of No Importance (1893)
Oh! no one. No one in particular. A woman of no importance.
A Woman of No Importance (1893)
I hear her hair has turned quite gold from grief
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Pray don't talk to me about the weather,... Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)