Oscar Wilde Quotes

“Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

“Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.”

“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.”

“There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

“When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.”

“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.”

“Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.”

“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”

“It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.”

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”

“All art is at once surface and symbol. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital.”

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”

“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”

“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.”

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”

“I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.”

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.”

“A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.”

“Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.”

“To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.”

“The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.”

“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.”

“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”

“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”

“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”