The Prose of Oscar Wilde
Oscariana
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No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved.
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so
at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.
Out of ourselves we can never pass, nor can there be in creation what in the
creator was not.
We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow.
It is immoral to use private property in order to alleviate the horrible evils
that result from the institution of private property.
The way of paradoxes is the way of truth. To test Reality we must see it on
the tight rope. When the Verities become acrobats we can judge them.
Conscience and cowardice are really the same thing. Conscience is the trade
name of the firm; that is all.
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can clear the senses
but the soul.
People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so, but at
least it is not so superficial as Thought is.
Punctuality is the thief of time.
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common-sense, and discover,
when it is too late, that the only thing one never regrets are one’s mistakes
We live in an age that reads too much to be wise, and that thinks too much to
be beautiful
If one doesn’t talk about a thing it has never happened. It is simply
expression that gives reality to things.
What nonsense people talk about happy marriages! A man can be happy with
any woman so long as he does not love her.
It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to
be ugly.
There is only one thing worse than Injustice, and that is Justice without her
sword in her hand.
What is the difference between literature and journalism? Journalism is
unreadable, and literature is unread.
Lady Windermere’s Fan
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If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously; if you pretend
to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they
don’t know anything at all.
What a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us!
Nothing spoils a romance so much as a sense of humour in the woman, or the
want of it in a man.
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The soul is born old, but grows young. That is the comedy of life. The body is
born young and grows old. That is life’s tragedy.
You should never try to understand women. Women are pictures. Men are
problems. If you want to know what a woman really means- which, by the
way, is always a dangerous thing to do, look at her, don’t listen to her.
The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a
past, and every sinner has a future.
Sebastian Melmoth
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The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death
If one plays good music people don’t listen, and if one plays bad music people
don’t talk.
To be good is to be in harmony with oneself. Discord is to be forced to be in
harmony with others.
An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
All women become like their mothers; that is their tragedy. No man does;
that is his.
There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that
others might pick them up.
Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable.
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time
that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught
Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing it is always from the noblest
motives.
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
People teach in order to conceal their ignorance, as people smile in order to
conceal their tears
An echo is often more beautiful than the voice it repeats.