Oscar Wilde Quotes
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M. Zola is determined to show that, if he has not got genius, he can at least be dull.
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Varnishing is the only artistic process with which Royal Academicians are thoroughly familiar.
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All the spring may be hidden in the single bud, and the low ground nest of the lark may hold the joy that is to herald the feet of many rose-red dawns.
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The one advantage of playing with fire...is that no one ever gets singed. It is the people who don't know how to play with it who get burned up.
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I did not think I should be ever loved: do you indeed Love me so much as now you say you do? Ask of the sea-bird if it loves the sea, Ask of the roses if they love the rain, Ask of the little lark, that will not sing Till day break, if it loves to see the day: And yet, these are but empty images, Mere shadows of my love, which is a fire So great that all the waters of the main Can not avail to quench it.
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Anybody can write a three-volume novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature.
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Mrs. Allonby: No man does. That is his.
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Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob. It is through the voice of one crying in the wilderness that the ways of the gods must be prepared.
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One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.
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A person who, because he has corns himself, always treads on other people's toes.
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Examinations, are pure humbug from beginning to end. If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.
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What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise in the future. But only if we set out to make this true and anticipate it so we look for the blessings until we find them.
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A glass of absinthe is as poetical as anything in the world. What difference is there between a glass of absinthe and a sunset?
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As yet, Bernard Shaw hasn't become prominent enough to have any enemies, but none of his friends like him.
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Genius is born-not paid.
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Indeed, so far from being humorous, the male American is the most abnormally serious creature who ever existed.. It is only fair to admit that he can exaggerate, but even his exaggeration has a rational basis. It is not founded on wit or fancy; it does not spring from any poetic imagination.
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I have never met any really wicked person before. I feel rather frightened. I am so afraid he will look just like every one else.
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In art, the public accept what has been, because they cannot alter it, not because they appreciate it. They swallow their classics whole, and never taste them.
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It is absurd to say that the age of miracles is past. It has not yet begun.
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An actor is part illusionist, part artist, part ham.
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I am sick of women who love one. Women who hate one are much more interesting.
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The trouble with the lower classes is that they lack the sense of tragedy given to them by the upper classes.
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The final mystery is oneself... Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul.
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The cities of America are inexpressibly tedious. The Bostonians take their learning too sadly; culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an atmosphere; their Hub, as they call it, is the paradise of prigs. Chicago is a sort of monster-shop, full of bustles and bores. Political life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. Baltimore is amusing for a week, but Philadelphia is dreadfully provincial; and though one can dine in New York one could not dwell there.