Oscar Wilde

"A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament."

"If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly than aesthetics will see its moral lesson. It will fill the cowardly with terror, and the unclean will see in it their own shame."

"It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors."

"'The Lady's World' should be made the recognized organ for the expression of women's opinions on all subjects of literature, art and modern life, and yet it should be a magazine that men could read with pleasure."

"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. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital."

"All art is quite useless."

"Art should never try to be popular. The public should try to make itself artistic."

"Bad people are, from the point of view of art, fascinating studies. They represent colour, variety and strangeness. Good people exasperate one's reason; bad people stir one's imagination."

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."

"A critic should be taught to criticise a work of art without making any reference to the personality of the author."

"Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life."

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."

"A poet can survive everything but a misprint."

"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling."

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

"Ambition is the last refuge of the failure."

"Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion."

"As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular."

"Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away."

"Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance."

"Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to."

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

"Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching."

"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing."

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."

"Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life."

"How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being."

"How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive."

"I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best."

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

"I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything."

"If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized."

"If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life."

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

"It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection."

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."

"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead."

"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."

"Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about."

"Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance."

"Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed."

"Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike."

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist."

"No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating."

"One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation."