Oscar Wilde

Life is the art of being well deceived, and to succeed, it must be habitual and uninterrupted.

An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them.

Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the cave-man had known how to laugh, History would have been different.

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations.

Literature always anticipates life. It doesn't copy it but moulds it to it's purpose.

A good friend will always stab you in the front.

The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.

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.

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

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

Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.

Memory is the diary that chronicles things that never happened or couldn't possibly have happened.

If you are not long, I will wait for you all my life.

Oh, brothers! I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.

To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.

Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.

Misfortunes one can endure--they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults--ah!--there is the sting of life.

Millionaire models are rare enough; but, by Jove, model millionaires are rarer still!

Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.

Indeed I have always been of the opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do.

She...can talk brillantly upon any subject provided she knows nothing about it.

America has never quite forgiven Europe for having been discovered somewhat earlier in history than itself.

Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.

You can never be overdressed or overeducated.

I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.

One has a right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

I never read a book I must review; it prejudices you so.