Oscar Wilde Quotations Quotes

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.

It's tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man', says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

It is tragic how few people ever ‘possess their souls’ before they die. ‘Nothing is more rare in any man,’ says Emerson, ‘than an act of his own.’ It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are some one else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

By the way, Dorian, he (Lord Henry) said, after a pause, what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose - how does the quotation run? - his own soul?

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I rely on you to misrepresent me.

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

And now, let us go out on the terrace where 'droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,' while the evening star 'washes the dusk with silver.' At twilight nature becomes a wonderfully suggestive effect, and is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.

what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose'-how does the quotation run?-'his own soul'?

An egg is always an adventure; it may be different each time

Life is never fair ... And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not. An Ideal Husband.

I write because it gives me the greatest possible artistic pleasure to write. If my work pleases the few I am gratified. As for the mob, I have no desire to be a popular novelist. It is far too easy.

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Oscar Wilde, writer and poet

At twilight nature becomes a wonderfully suggestive effect, and is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.

A true friend stabs you in the front. Oscar Wilde

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation

The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. The Soul of Man Under Socialism.

Most people are other people.  Their thoughts are some one else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

By the way, Dorian,” he said after a pause, “‘what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose’—how does the quotation run?—‘his own soul’?

MRS. ALLONBY: I delight in men over seventy, they always offer one the devotion of a lifetime.

Men are horribly tedious when they are good husbands, and abominably conceited when they are not. A Woman of No Importance.

He has one of those terribly weak natures that are not susceptible to influence. An Ideal Husband.

Life is never fair ... And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

Give me the luxuries, and anyone can have the necessaries.

In her dealings with man Destiny never closes her accounts.

The one charm of the past is that it is past. But women never know when the curtain has fallen.

Women give to men the very gold of their lives. But they invariably want it back in small change.

Women, as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out.

I am sick of women who love me. Women who hate me are much more interesting.

There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love. The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.

is difficult not to be unjust to what one loves. The Critic as Artist.

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The Picture of Dorian Gray.

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance. Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young.

Men always want to be a woman’s first love. That is their clumsy vanity. Women have a more subtle instinct about things: What they like is to be a man’s last romance.

By the way, Dorian,” he said after a pause, “‘what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose—how does the quotation run?— his own soul’?

what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose' - how does the quotation run? - 'his own soul?

Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring. In Conversation.

Those were my last words. To be listed in some book of quotations, alphabetically after Wilde: Wilde, Oscar (of the wallpaper in his bedroom): “Either it goes, or I do.” Wilding, Adelyn (of the gum splooches on the sidewalk): “Ditto.”

I never came across anyone in whom the moral sense was dominant who was not heartless, cruel, vindictive, log-stupid, and entirely lacking in the smallest sense of humanity. Moral people, as they are termed, are simple beasts. I would sooner have fifty unnatural vices than one unnatural virtue. In Conversation.

David tried to relax. His gaze drifted to the crowded sidewalks of stressed humanity, comparing them to the idealized versions in billboards and storefronts. Even without hallucinations, it was a horrifying scene, he reflected. And Wharton believed he was going to bring a revolution to all this. “Most people are other people,” he said aloud. “Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” “Which is itself a quotation,” chimed Wharton. “Oscar Wilde, I believe.” “Nothing gets past you.” “Not anymore.” David glanced at the confident figure sitting next to him. He tilted again, “So, how are you going to save all these people? They’re just a bunch of dupes who don’t even realise they’re getting fucked. There’s no golden future for the human race.” “Whoo! We need to get you detoxed – fast! Your mind is toxic!” “The fucks running this planet – they got us all stupid and downtrodden. They’ve got the media, the corporations, the banks. They just fill our troughs and we come a-gathering around, pushing each other about in the mud. They’ve got all the aces … Shit, they print the fucking aces!” “Do you think you’re telling me something new? You’ve got it wrong. I’m telling you something new here.” Wharton faced him and moved closer, almost confrontational. “The guys in charge – the fucks – the fat old dudes in the smoky backroom. They’re sitting on a powder keg, which is this: humanity and its potential – a potential so hard wired, so written into every cell, that it’s destiny. And they’re desperate to avoid anything that might cause a spark.” Light and dark took turns on Wharton’s face as they rolled on. He continued, “We are that spark. … Think small, you’ll be small. It’s time to go beyond all that programming and conditioning. The very fact that this material reality even exists is a fact too wondrous to truly behold. Too wondrous to behold! So, naturally, most of the time, it’s not ‘beheld’.” Despite the hushed tone, he was enjoying himself. “Don’t get made mundane just because of what the system tells you – it’s only the reigning ideology of the day. ‘Naive realism’, we call it. (…)

As Oscar Wilde put it, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” Ouch.

What we outlive becomes our prison - eventually.

By the way, Dorian, what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose - how does the quotation run? - his own soul?

As Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) pointed out, twilight 'is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.' Then again, maybe poetry's chief use is to inspire us to watch the sun go down.