Quotes by Oscar Wilde

So much had been surrendered! And to such little purpose! There had been mad wilful rejections, monstrous forms of self-torture and self-denial, whose origin was fear and whose result was a degradation infinitely more terrible than that fancied degradation from which, in their ignorance, they had sought to escape (...)

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.

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.

Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal.

When I think of all the harm [the Bible] has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it.

Would you like to know the great drama of my life? It is that I have put my genius into my life...I have put only my talent into my works.

The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.

Behind the perfection of a mans style, must lie the passion of a mans soul.

If you want to be a doormat you have to lay yourself down first.

Realize your youth while you have it. Don’t squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals, of our age. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.

Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.

Christ did not die to save people, but to teach people how to save each other. This is, I have no doubt, a grave heresy, but it is also a fact.

For what is truth? In matters of relogion, it is simply the opinion that has survived. In matters of science, it is the ultimate sensation. In matters of art, it is ones last mood.

For what is truth? In matters of religion, it is simply the opinion that has survived. In matters of science, it is the ultimate sensation. In matters of art, it is ones last mood.

nothing that is worth knowing can be taught

The man who sees both sides of a question is a man who sees absolutely nothing.

The English novels are the only relaxation of the intellectually unemployed. But one should not be too severe on them. They show a want of knowledge that must be the result of years of study.

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise

You can never be overdressed or overeducated.