353 quotes
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
The Critic as Artist (1891)
Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything.
A Woman of No Importance (1893)
I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.
The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
My own business always bores me to death. I prefer other people's.
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
It is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to.
An Ideal Husband (1895)
And down the long and silent street,
The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet,
Crept like a frightened girl.
He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.
The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty and to someone else if she is plain.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Oh, I love London society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what society should be.
An Ideal Husband (1895)
And alien tears will fill for him
Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.
If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.
Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)