What, no Wilde?

[mister_noel_y2k]

I'm surprised Oscar Wilde hasn't been mentioned here, he's probably said some of the best things and is easily the most quotable person (after Shakespeare of course) in Literature!

My favourite is probably "Uncertainty is the essence of romance" or maybe "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars"

:banana:

[Sitaram]

A myriad of Oscar Wilde Quotes

brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/oscar_wilde.htm

[mono]

Try here also: quotationspage.com

[mister_noel_y2k]

well yeah but i just wanted to see what peoples favourite wilde quotes were, its not a competition people! :banana:

[amuse]

this is great, from Wilde:
It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. :)
oh, help!
Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.
these are all tons of fun to read. :nod:
*giggles
The English country gentleman galloping after a fox - The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

[subterranean]

Well if you check out the "your fav quote" thread, you'd find some Wilde's words there, including mine.

My fav one is : The mystery of love is greater than then the mystery of death.

[Monica]

"I have nothing to declare exept my genius" is a pretty good one

[Sitaram]

Im just wild about Wilde (and Wilde is wild about me.) parody of an old song from the 1920s

[whereismymind]

My favorite Wilde quote:

Caricature is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.

[mono]

A few of my favorites:

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.

Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[Tabac]

Legendary, but it might be true. On his deathbed, Wilde looked around him and said, "that wallpaper is terrible. One of us must go!

[subterranean]

My campus sold t-shirts with that quote ;)


"I have nothing to declare exept my genius" is a pretty good one

[Lucentio]

My favorite Wilde quote (disappointingly was not included in the recent Motion Picture version of "The Importance of Being Earnest")
is:

"Uncertainty is the essence of Romance"

to which I add -

"But Certainty is the very object of love"

[superunknown]

"Always! That is a dreadful word. It makes me shudder when I hear it. Women are so fond of using it. They spoil every romance by trying to make it last for ever. It is a meaningless word, too. The only difference between a caprice and a lifelong passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer."

Henry Wotton - second in wittiness only to Falstaff.

[Dickensian]

It's IMPOSSIBLE for me to actually choose a favorite quote by Wilde but this one has always seemed more deep to me than his other usually sarcastic and witty comments:
"Children begin by loving their parents; as they grown older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them." -Oscar Wilde

[Eufrosyne]

Am I the only one who thinks that Wilde´s quotes often are cynical and generalizing, and seem to be written only to get in a quote-book? Maybe that´s the good thing about them, but to me they don´t seem to contain anything.

[Charles Darnay]

Iwould have disagree. I think Wilde's quotes (I suppose we're talking about the famous ones that are found in all the quote books) are very relevant to his subject. They are often cynical but I would lean more towards sarcastic. I find them entertaining an some inspiring....... but that's just my opinion

[subterranean]

I got something by him, which is my most fav recently:

A man who moralises is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralises is invariably plain

[Art_mirrors]

WIlde was the original player!
favorute quote...hmmmm
"The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. "
*or*
All art is quite useless.

*or*

"Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. "

wish i could o met him lol

[Art_mirrors]

Am I the only one who thinks that Wilde´s quotes often are cynical and generalizing, and seem to be written only to get in a quote-book? Maybe that´s the good thing about them, but to me they don´t seem to contain anything.


unfortuntely some of them yes are slightly cynical. however this man was ahead of his time....he was persectuted whereas in modern day he would be given a knighthood, the man suffered not because of his belifes mainly but because he put ideas on paper and they where attractive to young persons.

i think oscar wildes only flaw was his dogged determination to get himself into trouble with everyone he could but if he hadnt im sure u would have regreted it;) :D
OSCAR WILDE IS A LEGEND

[ejarg7]

I have one as my "signature" ;)

[Visionary3]

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Oscar Wilde


Let us not forget the dear old rascal Wilde. Is he in the list of books to study here?

[Countess]

This is from memory (so forgive it's inexactness) "Every portrait painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

AMEN. One can derive a great deal of understanding (or rather, confusion) about me by reading my work. I'm terribly transparent.

[Red Pilgrim]

WIlde was the original player!


That is an incredibly silly statement.

"All art is quite useless" is my favorite.

[tome_keeper]

often the only advice i can and have offered to the men in my life is, as dear old oscar put it..."women are meant to be loved, not understood". that is a favorite.

[LadyWentworth]

Where do I begin? I guess I will just give you:


"Life is too important to be taken seriously."
"There is no sin except stupidity."

As for Wilde being cynical, maybe. But then again, I find him to be honest. Of course, this opinion is coming from a person who can be QUITE cynical herself!

[Clover_K]

I can't pick my favourite. I quote Wilde on daily basis. I'm guity of that. ^^;

[soumyakans]

That was a great thought Clover. i have a long list of favourites from Wilde's quotes but i'm mentioning only a few:

"Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both."

"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. "

"We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow."

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."