172 Quotes By Oscar Wilde


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.
Oscar Wilde on age

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything.
Oscar Wilde on age

Show respect for age. Drink good scotch for a change. The old believe everything: the middle-aged suspect everything: the young know everything.
Oscar Wilde on age

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Oscar Wilde on ambition

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
Oscar Wilde on american

It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art.
Oscar Wilde on art

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.
Oscar Wilde on art

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.
Oscar Wilde on beauty

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.
Oscar Wilde on beauty

I don't desire to change anything in England except the weather.
Oscar Wilde on change

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde on change

A Cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde on cynicism

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Oscar Wilde on failure

To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.
Oscar Wilde on idleness

The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.
Oscar Wilde on life

When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.
Oscar Wilde on love

When a man has once loved a woman he will do anything for her except continue to love her.
Oscar Wilde on love

Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word. The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!
Oscar Wilde on love

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.
Oscar Wilde on marriage

When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.
Oscar Wilde on marriage