Quotes by Oscar Wilde

Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friends success.

Friendship...is not something you learn in school,but if you havent learned the meaning of friendship you really havent learned anything.

I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays.

Most people are boring and stupid.

Its an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco.It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world

Pray dont talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.

There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating- people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.

It would be unfair to expect other people to be as brilliant as oneself.

In war, the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich makes slaves of the poor.

Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

The basis of action is lack of imagination. It is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.

The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever. Even if people employ actual violence, they are not to be violent in turn. That would be to fall to the same low level. After all, even in prison, a man can be quite free. His soul can be free. His personality can be untroubled. He can be at peace. And, above all things, they are not to interfere with other people or judge them in any way. Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad, without ever doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realize through that sin his true perfection.

He wants to enslave you.I shudder at the thought of being free.

Man is complete in himself. When they go into the world, the world will disagree with them. That is inevitable. The world hates Individualism. But that is not to trouble them. They are to be calm and self-centred. If a man takes their cloak, they are to give him their coat, just to show that material things are of no importance. If people abuse them, they are not to answer back. What does it signify? The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever. Even if people employ actual violence, they are not to be violent in turn. That would be to fall to the same low level. After all, even in prison, a man can be quite free. His soul can be free. His personality can be untroubled. He can be at peace. And, above all things, they are not to interfere with other people or judge them in any way. Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad, without ever doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realise through that sin his true perfection.

Crying is for plain women. Pretty women go shopping.

To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.

I have no objection to anyone’s sex life as long as they don’t practice it in the street and frighten the horses.

People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that its impossible to count them accurately.