To get into the best society, nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people - that is all!
To be popular one must be a mediocrity.Not with Women, said the duchess, shaking her head; and women rule the world. I assure you we can't bear mediocrities. We women, as someone says, love with our e...
There is no mode of action, no form of emotion, that we do not share with the lower animals. It is only by language that we rise above them, or above each other - by language, which is the parent, and...
The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion-these are the two things that govern us.
The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made...
The long black nights, when the moon hides her face, when the stars are afraid, are not so black. The silence that dwells in the forest is not so black. There is nothing in the world so black as thy h...
The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence.
The burden of this world is too great for one man to bear, and the world’s sorrow too heavy for one heart to suffer.
The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.
Sins of the flesh are nothing. They are maladies for physicians to cure, if they should be cured. Sins of the soul alone are shameful.
She has form, he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove - that cannot be denied to her; but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style, wit...
One of the great secrets of life. Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense and discover too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
Oh, don't cough, Ernest. When one is dictating one should speak fluently and not cough. Besides, I don't know how to spell a cough.
Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.
My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!
My dear Arthur, I never talk scandal. I only talk gossip.What is the difference between scandal and gossip?Oh! Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by moral...
Long engagements give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which is never advisable.
Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.
LADY BRACKNELL. May I ask if it is in this house that your invalid friend Mr. Bunbury resides?ALGERNON. [Stammering.] Oh! No! Bunbury doesn't live here. Bunbury is somewhere else at present. In fact,...