353 quotes
The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. The only thing that can console one for being rich is economy.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
Oh! journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.
The Critic as Artist (1891)
Heaven is a despotism. I shall be at home there.
Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880)
Even the disciple has his uses. He stands behind one's throne, and at the moment of one's triumph whispers in one's ear that, after all, one is immortal.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
I cannot understand your nature. If my nature had been made to suit your comprehension rather than my own requirements, I am afraid I would have made a very poor figure in the world.
Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880)
Now don't stir. I'll be back in five minutes. And don't fall into any temptations while I am away.
An Ideal Husband (1895)
The people ... have marred themselves by imitation of their inferiors. They have taken the sceptre of the Prince.
All trials are trials for one's life, just as all sentences are sentences of death
De Profundis (1897)
Something was dead in each of us,
And what was dead was Hope.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
To be really mediæval one should have no body. To be really modern one should have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes.
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
And all, but Lust, is turned to dust
In Humanity's machine.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
And suddenly the moon withdraws
Her sickle from the lightening skies,
And to her sombre cavern flies,
Wrapped in a veil of yellow gauze.
Her hair is bound with myrtle leaves,
(Green leaves upon her golden hair!)
Green grasses through the yellow sheaves
Of Autumn corn are not more fair.
Well, I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One must eat muffins quite calmly, it is the only way to eat them.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
And it is only fair to state, with regard to modern journalists, that they always apologise to one in private for what they have written against one in public.
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Patriotism is the vice of nations.
Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
There is no sin except stupidity.
The Critic as Artist (1891)
Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
It is to do nothing that the elect exist. Action is limited and relative. Unlimited and absolute is the vision of him who sits at ease and watches, who walks in loneliness and dreams.
The Critic as Artist (1891)
Private property ... has led Individualism entirely astray. It has made gain not growth its aim. So that man thought that the important thing was to have, and did not know that the important thing is to be. The true perfection of man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is.