Quotes from Oscar Wilde

Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef.

Football is all very well as a game for rough girls, but is hardly suitable for delicate boys.

The tragedy of growing old is not that one is old but that one is young.

The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate of it. The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development.

It is tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man,' says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are some one else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

And when wind and winter harden All the loveless land, It will whisper of the garden, You will understand.

It's most dangerous nowadays for a husband to pay any attention to his wife in public. It always makes people think that he beats her when they are alone. The world has grown so suspicious of anything that looks like a happy married life.

My dear boy... anybody can be good in the country.

Criminal Minds, Believer: "A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."

Too much work, and no vacation, Deserves at least a small libation. So hail! my friends, and raise your glasses, Work's the curse of the drinking classes.

Put your talent into your work, but your genius into your life.

When both a speaker and an audience are confused, the speech is profound.