Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally."
"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."
"A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her."
"A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies."
"A man who does not think for himself does not think at all."
"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."
"A poet can survive everything but a misprint."
"A true friend stabs you in the front."
"Ah, well, then I suppose I shall have to die beyond my means."
"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much."
"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."
"An excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him."
"An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."
"Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there."
"Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion."
"Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing."
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."
"As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied."
"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."
"At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets."
"Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship."
"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."
"Biography lends to death a new terror."
"By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community."
"Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them."
"Children have a natural antipathy to books - handicraft should be the basis of education. Boys and girls should be taught to use their hands to make something, and they would be less apt to destroy and be mischievous."
"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."
"Cynic: a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
"Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance."
"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people."
"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."
"Each class preaches the importance of those virtues it need not exercise. The rich harp on the value of thrift, the idle grow eloquent over the dignity of labor."
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."
"Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."
"Everyone should keep someone else’s diary."
"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."
"Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life."
"Hatred is blind, as well as love."