Quotes by Oscar Wilder

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
(The Critic as Artist, part 2, 1891)

One is tempted to define man as a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(The Critic as Artist, part 2, 1891)

Do not speak ill of society, Algie. Only people who can't get in do that.
(The Importance of Being Earnest)

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
(The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895, Act I)

To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
(The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895, Act I)

Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.
(The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 3)

It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
(The Model Millionaire, 1912)

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891)