Oscar Wilde Quotes

In all pointed sentences some degree of accuracy must be sacrificed to conciseness.

Who is that man over there? I don't know him. What is he doing? Is he a conspirator? Have you searched him? Give him till tomorrow to confess, then hang him!

To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomat -- the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one's vinegar.

Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.

The cities of America are inexpressibly tedious. The Bostonians take their learning too sadly; culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an atmosphere; their "Hub," as they call it, is the paradise of prigs. Chicago is a sort of monster-shop, full of bustles and bores. Political life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. Baltimore is amusing for a week, but Philadelphia is dreadfully provincial; and though one can dine in New York one could not dwell there.

Always! That is the dreadful word... It is a meaningless word, too.

The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything. I've put my genius into my life; I've only put my talent into my works.

Beauty is a form of genius, is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight or springtime or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon.

I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories or have never done anything worth remembering.

Modern pictures are, no doubt, delightful to look at. At least, some of them are. But they are quite impossible to live with; they are too clever, too assertive, too intellectual. Their meaning is too obvious, and their method too clearly defined.

Bad artists always admire each other's work.