Oscar Wilde

The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. The only thing that can console one for being rich is economy.

Even the disciple has his uses. He stands behind one's throne, and at the moment of one's triumph whispers in one's ear that, after all, one is immortal.

To be really mediæval one should have no body. To be really modern one should have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes.

Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.

Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer.

In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.

The only link between Literature and the Drama left to us in England at the present moment is the bill of the play.

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.

The English are always degrading truths into facts. When a truth becomes a fact it loses all its intellectual value.

Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Don't be deceived, George. Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely if ever do they forgive them.

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

Moderation is a fatal thing, Lady Hunstanton. Nothing succeeds like excess.

I am always astonishing myself. It is the only thing that makes life worth living.

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.

Gerald: I suppose society is wonderfully delightful? Lord Illingworth: To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it simply a tragedy.

Lord Illingworth: Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.

Lord Illingworth: Women have become too brilliant. Nothing spoils a romance so much as a sense of humour in the woman. Mrs. Allonby: Or the want of it in the man.

Lady Hunstanton: But do you believe all that is written in the newspapers? Lord Illingworth: I do. Nowadays it is only the unreadable that occurs.

Lord Illingworth: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. Mrs. Allonby: It ends with Revelations.

Kelvil: May I ask, Lord Illingworth, if you regard the House of Lords as a better institution than the House of Commons? Lord Illingworth: A much better institution of course. We in the House of Lords are never in touch with public …

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three hundred years.

Mrs. Allonby: They say, Lady Hunstanton, that when good Americans die they go to Paris. Lady Hunstanton: Indeed? And when bad Americans die, where do they go to? Lord Illingworth: Oh, they go to America.