"Beauty is a form of genius - is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon."

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More quotes from: Oscar Wilde

• "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of ..."
• "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely ..."
• "A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies. "
• "A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. "
• "A poet can survive everything but a misprint. "
• "A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. "
• "A true friend stabs you in the front. "
• "A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. "
• "Ah, well, then I suppose I shall have to die beyond my means. "
• "Alas, I am dying beyond my means. "
• "All art is quite useless. "
• "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. "
• "All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art ..."
• "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. "
• "Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much. "
• "Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds. "
• "Ambition is the last refuge of the failure. "
• "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. "
• "An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all. "
• "Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion. "
• "Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing. "
• "Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. "
• "As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she ..."
• "As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When ..."
• "As yet, Bernard Shaw hasn't become prominent enough to have any enemies, but none of ..."
• "At 46 one must be a miser; only have time for essentials. "
• "Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, ..."
• "Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same. "
• "Biography lends to death a new terror. "
• "By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ..."
• "Charity creates a multitude of sins. "
• "Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, ..."
• "Conscience and cowardice are really the same things. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. ..."
• "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. "
• "Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative. "
• "Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative. "
• "Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance. "
• "Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. "
• "Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that ..."
• "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time ..."
• "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of ..."
• "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. "
• "Everything popular is wrong. "
• "Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing. "
• "Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. "
• "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every ..."
• "Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family ..."
• "Hatred is blind, as well as love. "
• "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends. "
• "He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they ..."
• "He must have a truly romantic nature, for he weeps when there is nothing at ..."
• "He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of ..."
• "How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on ..."
• "How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive. "
• "I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. ..."
• "I am not young enough to know everything. "
• "I can resist everything except temptation. "
• "I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and ..."
• "I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing. "
• "I have nothing to declare except my genuis. "
• "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best. "
• "I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and ..."
• "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in ..."
• "I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my ..."
• "I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way ..."
• "I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. ..."
• "I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability. "

• "I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But ..."
• "I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability. "
• "I want my food dead. Not sick, not dying, dead. "
• "If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use ..."
• "If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to ..."
• "If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music people ..."
• "If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the ..."
• "If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life. "
• "If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend ..."
• "Illusion is the first of all pleasures. "
• "In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. "
• "In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever. "
• "In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than ..."
• "In England people actually try to be brilliant at breakfast. That is so dreadful of ..."
• "In every first novel the hero is the author as Christ or Faust. "
• "In married life three is company and two none. "
• "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information. "
• "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or ..."
• "It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen ..."
• "It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to ..."
• "It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. "
• "It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art. "
• "It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about, nowadays, saying things against one behind ..."
• "It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection. "
• "It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will ..."
• "Its failings notwithstanding, there is much to be said in favor of journalism in that ..."
• "Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when ..."
• "Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far ..."
• "Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. "
• "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. "
• "Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us ..."
• "Life is too important to be taken seriously. "
• "Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon ..."
• "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, ..."
• "Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. "
• "Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a ..."
• "Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess. "
• "Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. "
• "Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each ..."
• "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, ..."
• "Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is ..."
• "Mrs. Allonby: No man does. That is his. "
• "Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory. "
• "Music makes one feel so romantic - at least it always gets on one's nerves ..."
• "My great mistake, the fault for which I can't forgive myself, is that one day ..."
• "No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would ..."
• "No man is rich enough to buy back his past. "
• "No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. "
• "No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating. "
• "Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses ..."
• "Nothing is so aggravating than calmness. "
• "Nothing makes one so vain as being told one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists ..."
• "Now that the House of Commons is trying to become useful, it does a great ..."
• "Nowadays to be intelligible is to be found out. "
• "Of course America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed ..."
• "Of course I have played outdoor games. I once played dominoes in an open air ..."
• "One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation. "
• "One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what ..."
• "One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry. "
• "One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards. "
• "One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should ..."
• "Only the shallow know themselves. "
• "Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things ..."
• "Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; ..."
• "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. "
• "Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had ..."

• "Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both. "
• "Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best. "
• "Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are. "
• "Self-denial is the shining sore on the leprous body of Christianity. "
• "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live ..."
• "Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow. "
• "She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is ..."
• "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. "
• "Some of these people need ten years of therapy -ten sentences of mine do not ..."
• "Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result. "
• "The basis of optimism is sheer terror. "
• "The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own ..."
• "The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. "
• "The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not ..."
• "The English country gentleman galloping after a fox - The unspeakable in full pursuit of ..."
• "The General was essentially a man of peace, except of course in his domestic affairs. "
• "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means. "
• "The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates. "
• "The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world. "
• "The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you. "
• "The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything. "
• "The one charm about marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary ..."
• "The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is ..."
• "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can ..."
• "The past is of no importance. The present is of no importance. It is with ..."
• "The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, ..."
• "The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius. "
• "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple. "
• "The salesman knows nothing of what he is selling save that he is charging a ..."
• "The security of Society lies in custom and unconscious instinct, and the basis of the ..."
• "The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. "
• "The truth is rarely pure and never simple. "
• "The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when ..."
• "The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life. "
• "The world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those who ..."
• "There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating - people who know ..."
• "There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and ..."
• "There is no sin except stupidity. "
• "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well ..."
• "There is no such thing as an omen. Destiny does not send us heralds. She ..."
• "There is nothing in the world like the devotion of a married woman. It is ..."
• "There is nothing so difficult to marry as a large nose. "
• "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is ..."
• "These days man knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. "
• "This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last. "
• "Those whom the gods love grow young. "
• "To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect. "
• "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like ..."
• "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. "
• "To regret one's own experiences is to arrest one's own development. To deny one's own ..."
• "True friends stab you in the front. "
• "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "
• "What we have to do, what at any rate it is our duty to do, ..."
• "When a man has once loved a woman he will do anything for her except ..."
• "When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a ..."
• "When good Americans die they go to Paris. "
• "When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; ..."
• "When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers. "
• "Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. "
• "Who, being loved, is poor? "
• "Why was I born with such contemporaries? "
• "Woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat. "
• "Women are made to be loved, not understood. "
• "Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the ..."
• "Work is the curse of the drinking classes. "
• "Yet each man kills the thing he loves, by each let this be heard, some ..."