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The vilest deeds like poison weeds
Bloom well in prison air;
It is only what is good in man
That wastes and withers there;
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate
And the Warder is Despair.

— Oscar Wilde The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

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More quotes by Oscar Wilde

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. [Answering the question, what is a cynic?]

Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)

I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing.

The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.

A Woman of No Importance (1893)

All Oscar Wilde quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Oscar Wilde (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.