Quotes from Oscar Wilde

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

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

The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

Society often forgives the criminal; it never forgives the dreamer.

The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself.

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

There is no sin except stupidity.

Men always want to be a woman's first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We women have a more subtle instinct about these things. What (women) like is to be a man's last romance.

Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.

Indeed I have always been of the opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do.

Life is too short to learn German

I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if only one hides it.

The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously-and have somebody find out.

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

It takes great deal of courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it.

You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?

Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace. You can help me. You can open for me the portals of death's house, for love is always with you, and love is stronger than death is.

There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.