Compilado Estructurado de Citas Oscar Wilde
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Citas
A
"A mí dadme las cosas superfluas que cualquiera puede tener las necesarias."
"Amad al arte por sí y entonces todo lo demás se os dará por añadidura." "Amarse a sí mismo es el comienzo de un idilio que durará toda la vida."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"A veces podemos pasarnos años sin vivir en absoluto, y de pronto todanuestra vida se concentra en un solo instante."
B
"Bigamia es tener una mujer de sobra. Monogamia es lo mismo."
C
"Cada acierto nos trae un enemigo. Para ser popular hay que ser mediocre."
"Cada instante que pasa nos arrebata un pedazo de rostro."
"Cada uno de nosotros tenemos en nosotros mismos un cielo y un infierno."
"¿Cómo podrías ser feliz estando con alguien que insiste en tratarte como a un serhumano normal?"
"Cómo tener confianza en una mujer que le dice a uno su verdadera edad. Unamujer capaz de decir esto es capaz de decirlo todo."
"Con una naturaleza confortable, la humanidad no hubiera inventado nuncala arquitectura."
"Conciencia y cobardía son la misma cosa, solo que conciencia es el nombre
comercial."
"Cualquiera puede hacer historia; pero sólo un gran hombre puede escribirla."
"Cualquiera puede simpatizar con las penas de un amigo, simpatizar consus éxitos requiere una naturaleza delicadísima."
"Cualquier hombre puede llegar a ser feliz con una mujer, con tal que no la ame."
"Cualquier preocupación sobre qué está bien y qué está mal demuestra unestancamiento en el desarrollo intelectual."
Fuente:"Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894
"Cuando hayamos descubierto las leyes que rigen la vida, nos daremos cuenta queel hombre de acción se ilusiona más que el soñador."
"Cuando una persona hace una cosa soberanamente estúpida, siempre la hace porlos más nobles motivos."
"Cuando la gente está de acuerdo conmigo siempre siento que debo de estarequivocado."
"Cuando se está enamorado empieza uno por desilusionarse a sí mismo, y acabapor desilusionar a la otra parte interesada."
"Cuando un hombre ama a una mujer hace cualquier cosa por ella, excepto seguirlaamando."
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"Cuando una mujer vuelve a casarse es porque detestaba a su primer marido.Cuando un hombre vuelve a casarse es porque adoraba a su primera mujer. Lasmujeres prueban suerte, los hombres arriesgan la suya".
El retrato de Dorian Gray .
D
"Dad una máscara al hombre y os dirá la verdad."
Original: "Give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth".
Fuente: Citado por su nieto Merlin Holland, anotado por Angela Bennie
en Behind that mask of refinement
"De qué le sirve a un hombre ganar el mundo entero si pierde su propia alma."
Este es un pasaje que existe en el libro del nuevo testamento Mateo 16:26
Porque ¿qué aprovechará el hombre si ganare todo el mundo, y perdiere su
alma? "Descubrir con precisión lo que no ha sucedido ni va a suceder es el privilegio
inapreciable de todo hombre culto y de talento."
"Día fatal aquél en que el público descubrió que la pluma es más poderosa que eladoquín, y puede ser arma más ofensiva."
"Discúlpeme, no le había reconocido: he cambiado mucho."
E
"El amor es un sacramento que debería recibirse de rodillas."
"El Arte es la única cosa seria en este mundo. Y el artista es la única persona que
jamás está seria."
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"El arte es la forma más intensa del individualismo que el mundo ha conocido."
"El arte de la música es el que más cercano se halla de las lágrimas y losrecuerdos."
"El arte jamás ha de intentar ser popular. El público es el que ha de intentar serartista."
"El artista es el creador de cosas bellas. Revelar el arte y ocultar al artista es lafinalidad del arte."
"El cinismo consiste en ver las cosas como realmente son, y no como se quiere quesean."
"El crítico es el que puede traducir de un modo distinto o con un nuevoprocedimiento su impresión ante las cosas bellas."
"El dandismo es la declaración de la absoluta modernidad en la Belleza."
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"El deber es lo que esperamos que hagan los demás."
"El descontento es el primer paso en el progreso de un hombre o una nación."
"El dinero es como el estiércol: si se amontona, huele."
"El dinero no da la felicidad, pero procura una sensación tan parecida, que senecesita un especialista muy avanzado para verificar la diferencia."
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"El fin de la existencia del hombre no es otro que llegar a un alto grado deorganización."
"El futuro no envía heraldos."
"El hombre debería decir siempre mucho más de lo que pretende y pretendermucho más de lo que dice."
"El hombre puede creer en lo imposible, pero no creerá nunca en lo improbable."
"El hombre que se ocupa de su pasado no merece tener un porvenir."
"El llanto es el refugio de las mujeres feas y la ruina de algunas bonitas."
"El matrimonio es un 97 por 100 de conversación."
"El medio mejor para hacer buenos a los niños es hacerlos felices."
"El mejor diplomático es aquel que habla más y dice menos."
"El misterio del amor es mayor que el misterio de la muerte."
"El mundo ha sido hecho por los locos para los cuerdos."
"El pasado podría aniquilarse. Siempre las penas o el olvido pueden hacerlo. Pero
el porvenir es inevitable." "El periodismo moderno justifica su existencia por el gran principio darwiniano de
la supervivencia del más vulgar."
"El patriotismo es la virtud de los depravados."
"El placer es la única cosa por la que se debe vivir. Nada envejece tan rápido comola felicidad."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"El primer deber de un crítico de arte es tener la boca callada en todo momento ybajo cualquier circunstancia."
"El que vive más de una vida debe morir más de una muerte."
"El tiempo es una pérdida de dinero."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"El trabajo es el refugio de los que no tienen nada que hacer."
"El que dice la verdad, puede estar seguro que tarde o temprano serádescubierto."
"El único amor consecuente, fiel, comprensivo, que todo lo perdona, que nuncanos defrauda, y que nos acompaña hasta la muerte es el amor propio."
"El único vínculo entre literatura y drama que nos queda en Inglaterra es la facturadel teatro."
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"En el arte como en el amor la ternura es lo que da la fuerza."
"En el mundo común de los hechos, los malos no son castigados, ni los buenosrecompensados. El éxito se lo llevan los fuertes y el fracaso los débiles. Eso estodo."
"En esta vida la primera obligación es ser totalmente artificial. La segunda todavíanadie la ha encontrado."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"En este mundo hay sólo dos tragedias: una es no obtener lo que se quiere; la otra
es obtenerlo. Esta última es la peor, es una verdadera tragedia."
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"En la antigüedad los libros eran escritos por hombres de letras y leídos por elpúblico. Hoy en día los libros son escritos por el público y leídos por nadie."
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"En la vida política, tarde o temprano, uno tiene un compromiso."
"En los exámenes, los tontos siempre preguntan cosas que los sabios no puedenresponder."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"En todos los asuntos de importancia, es el estilo, no la sinceridad, loverdaderamente esencial."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Es absurdo dividir a la gente en buena y mala. La gente es tan sólo encantadora oaburrida."
"Es al espectador, y no a la vida, a quien refleja realmente el arte."
"Entre un hombre y una mujer no hay amistad posible. Hay amor, odio, pasión,pero no amistad."
"Es a través de la desobediencia y la rebelión que se ha hecho el progreso."
"Es mejor ser guapo que ser bueno y es peor ser feo que malo."
"Es muy difícil no ser injusto con lo que uno ama."
"Es muy triste que hoy en día exista tan poca información totalmente inútil."
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"Es terriblemente triste que el talento dure más que la belleza."
"Escojo a mis amigos por su buena apariencia, a mis conocidos por su carácter y amis enemigos por su razón."
"Estar alerta, he ahí la vida; yacer en la tranquilidad, he ahí la muerte." "Estoy convencido que en un principio Dios hizo un mundo distinto para cada
hombre, y que es en ese mundo, que está dentro de nosotros mismos, dondedeberíamos intentar vivir."
"Experiencia es el nombre que damos a nuestras equivocaciones."
[editar]F
"Formar parte de la sociedad es un fastidio, pero estar excluido de ella es unatragedia."
[editar]H
"Hable a toda mujer como si estuviera enamorado de ella y a todo hombre como sile estuviera fastidiando a usted. Y pronto tendrá fama de poseer el más exquisitotacto social."
"Haría cualquier cosa por recuperar la juventud... excepto hacer ejercicio,madrugar, o ser un miembro útil de la comunidad."
"Hay algo terriblemente trágico acerca del gran número de jóvenes en Inglaterraque actualmente empiezan una vida con perfiles perfectos y terminan adoptandouna profesión útil."
Fuente:"Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894 "Hay dos tipos de mujeres: las feas y las que se pintan."
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"Hay gente que se preocupa más por el dinero que los pobres: son los ricos".
"Hay mucho que decir en favor del periodismo moderno. Al darnos las opinionesde los ignorantes, nos mantiene en contacto con la ignorancia de la comunidad."
"Hay pecados cuya fascinación está más en el recuerdo que en la comisión deellos."
"Hay que simpatizar siempre con la alegría de la vida, cuanto menos se hable de lasllagas de la vida, mejor."
"Hay que batir el hierro mientras está caliente."
"Hay quien cree contradecirnos cuando no hace más que repetir su opinión sinatender la nuestra."
"Hay solamente una cosa en el mundo peor que hablen de ti, y es que no hablen deti."
"Hoy lo que consuela no es el arrepentimiento, sino el placer. El arrepentimientoestá enteramente anticuado."
"Hoy en día el hombre conoce el precio de todo y el valor de nada." "Hoy en día todos los grandes hombres tienen discípulos, y siempre hay un judas
que se encarga de escribir la biografía."
Fuente: "El crítico artista", 1891
"Hoy en día es muy peligroso para un marido galantear a su mujer en público. Hacepensar siempre a la gente que le pega cuando están a solas."
"Hubiera dado el mundo por haber tenido valor para decir la verdad, para vivir laverdad."
[editar]I
"Incluso el discípulo sirve para algo. Él está de pie tras nuestro trono, y en elmomento de nuestra victoria susurra a nuestros oídos que, a fin de cuentas, somosinmortales."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
[editar]L
"La amistad es mucho más trágica que el amor. Dura más"
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"La ambición es el último refugio del fracaso."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"La belleza es muy superior al genio. No necesita explicación."
"La carga de este mundo es demasiado grande para que la soporte un solo hombrey el dolor del mundo es demasiado para que lo sufra un solo corazón."
Fuente: "Una casa de granadas", 1891.
"La compasión nunca puede sustituir al amor."
"La condición para ser perfecto es ser ocioso, el objetivo de la perfección es la juventud."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
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"La diferencia entre literatura y periodismo es que el periodismo es ilegible yla literatura no es leída."
"La diversidad de opiniones sobre una obra de arte indica que la obra es nueva,compleja y vital. Cuando los críticos difieren, el artista está de acuerdo consigomismo."
"La educación es una cosa admirable, pero es menester recordar de vez en cuando,que ninguna cosa valiosa para el conocimiento se puede enseñar."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"La estupidez es el principio de la seriedad."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"La fealdad quedó instaurada por primera vez en el arte al ser exhibido el primerretrato del hombre."
"La fuerza de las mujeres depende de que la psicología no puede explicarla. Loshombres pueden ser analizados; las mujeres sólo pueden ser amadas."
"La gente enseña para disimular su ignorancia, lo mismo que sonríe para ocultarsus lágrimas."
"La humanidad se toma a sí misma demasiado en serio. Este y no otro es el pecadooriginal."
"La mayoría de las mujeres son tan artificiales que no tienen sentido del Arte. Lamayoría de los hombres son tan naturales que no tienen sentido de la Belleza."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"La mejor base para un matrimonio feliz es la mutua incomprensión."
"La mejor manera de librarse de la tentación es caer en ella."
"La mentira, es decir, el relato de las bellas cosas falsas, constituye el fin mismo delarte."
"La moda es la que hace posible que, por un momento, lo fantástico se conviertaen cotidiano."
"La moralidad es simplemente una actitud que adoptamos hacia las personas quepersonalmente no nos gustan."
"La muerte es la cosa, la única, que me aterra siempre. La odio. Hoy se puedesobrevivir a todo menos a ella."
"La naturaleza del romanticismo es la incertidumbre."
Fuente:"la Importancia de llamarse Ernesto", 1º acto / Algernon
"La opinión pública sólo existe donde no hay ideas."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"La perversidad es un mito inventado por la buena gente para justificar el peculiaratractivo de otros."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"La primera obligación en la vida es ser tan artificial como se pueda. La segundaobligación hasta ahora no ha sido descubierta.
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"La puntualidad es una pérdida de tiempo."
"La realidad no debe ser más que un telón de fondo."
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"Las buenas intenciones pueden tener valor en un sistema ético; pero en arte, no.No basta tenerlas; se ha de realizar la obra."
"Las clases criminales están tan cerca de nosotros que incluso la policía puedeverlas. Pero están al mismo tiempo tan lejos que sólo el poeta puedecomprenderlas."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Las cosas de que uno está absolutamente seguro nunca son ciertas."
“Las discusiones son completamente vulgares, porque en la buena sociedad todo el
mundo tiene exactamente las mismas opiniones.”
Fuente: "Cuento: El famoso cohete."
"Las eras existen en la historia por su anacronismo."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Las industrias son la raíz de la fealdad".
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894. "Las mujeres han sido hechas para ser amadas, no para ser comprendidas."
"Las mujeres nos inspiran a hacer las más grandes obras, pero son ellas mismasquienes nos impiden hacerlas."
"Las personas de familia contradicen a otros. Las personas sabias se contradicen así mismas."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Las peores obras son las que están hechas con las mejores intenciones."
"Las pequeñas acciones de cada día son las que hacen o deshacen el carácter."
"Las preguntas no son indiscretas, mas a veces sí lo son las respuestas."
"Las religiones mueren cuando se prueba que son ciertas. La ciencia es el registrode las religiones muertas".
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Las tragedias de los otros son siempre de una banalidad desesperante."
"La tierra es un teatro, pero tiene un reparto deplorable."
"La tragedia de la vejez no es que uno sea viejo, sino haber sido joven."
"La única diferencia entre los santos y los pecadores es que los santos tuvieron supasado, y los pecadores tienen su futuro."
"La única diferencia entre un capricho y una pasión eterna es que el capricho suele
durar algo más." "La única forma de expiarse por estar de vez en cuando exageradamente vestido es
ser siempre exageradamente educado".
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"La única forma de vivir en la memoria de las clases comerciales es nunca pagandolas deudas."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"La única manera en que un hombre debe comportarse con una mujer es:haciendo el amor con ella, si es bonita, o con otra, si es fea."
"La única persona que necesitas en tu vida, es aquella que te demuestre que te
necesita en la suya."
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"La única ventaja de jugar con fuego es que aprende uno a no quemarse."
"La verdad rara vez es pura, y nunca simple."
"La única forma de vencer una tentación es dejarse arrastrar por ella."
"Lo único capaz de consolar a un hombre por las estupideces que hace, es elorgullo que le proporciona hacerlas."
"Lo menos frecuente en este mundo es vivir. La mayoría de la gente existe, eso estodo."
"Lo peor es un enemigo tonto. Un enemigo inteligente, si también lo somos, nodeja de apreciarnos por ello y combatirá siempre con nobleza contra nosotros."
"Lo que nos parecen pruebas amargas, son a menudo bendiciones disfrazadas."
"Lo que parece anormal en la vida es completamente normal en el Arte. Es dehecho la única cosa de la vida completamente normal en el Arte."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Lo único que el artista no puede ver es lo obvio. Lo único que el público puede ver
es lo obvio. El resultado es la crítica de los periodistas." Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Lo único que puede consolar a un pobre es la extravagancia. Lo único puedeconsolar a un rico es el ahorro."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Los atuendos griegos eran verdaderamente inartísticos. Nada debe revelar alcuerpo, excepto el cuerpo mismo."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Los bien nacidos contradicen a los demás. Los sabios se contradicen a sí mismos."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894. "Los buenos artistas lo entregan todo a su arte, y, por consiguiente, no tienen ellos
mismos nada de interesante."
"Los buenos consejos que me dan sólo me sirven para traspasarlos a otros."
"¡Los buenos modales antes que la moral!"
"Los dos momentos más decisivos de mi vida fueron cuando mi padre me envió aOxford y cuando la sociedad me envió a la carcel."
"Los placeres sencillos son el último refugio de los hombres complicados."
"Los ingleses siempre están degradando las verdades en hechos. Cuando una
verdad se transforma en un hecho pierde todo su valor intelectual." Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Los hombres casados son horriblemente aburridos cuando son buenos maridos,pero son abominablemente presumidos cuando no los son."
"Los hombres interesantes son los que tienen un futuro. Las mujeres interesantes,las que tienen un pasado."
"Los hombres se casan por cansancio. Las mujeres por curiosidad. Los dos se llevanuna desilusión."
"Los hombres siempre se empeñan en ser el primer amor de una mujer. Lasmujeres prefieren ser la última novela de un hombre."
"Los libros que el mundo llama inmorales, son libros que muestran al mundo supropia vergüenza."
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"Los modelos millonarios son bastante raros, pero, ¡por Júpiter!, los millonariosmodelo son más raros todavía."
Fuente: "El modelo millonario", 1891.
"Los músicos son terriblemente irracionales. Siempre quieren que uno sea
totalmente mudo en el preciso momento que uno desea ser completamentesordo."
"Los niños comienzan por amar a los padres. Cuando ya han crecido, los juzgan, y,algunas veces, hasta los perdonan."
"Los que no ven ninguna diferencia entre alma y cuerpo, no tienen ninguna de lasdos cosas."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894
"Los que son amados por los dioses crecen jóvenes."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Los viejos todo lo creen, los adultos todo lo sospechan, pero los jóvenes todo losaben."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894
"Lo único que hace emocionante el matrimonio es la infidelidad."
"Lo único que consuela de ser pobre es la extravagancia. Y lo único que consuela deser rico es el ahorro."
Fuente: "Algunas máximas para la enseñanza de los supereducados", 1894.
"Lo único que se necesita para que el mal triunfe es que los hombres buenos nohagan nada"
Fuente:Edmund Bruke (AHC).
[editar]M
"Mentir, decir cosas inciertas maravillosamente, es la finalidad adecuada del arte."
Fuente: "La decadencia de la mentira", 1891.
"Me gusta contemplar a los hombres geniales y escuchar a las mujeres hermosas."
Fuente: "La importancia de llamarse Ernesto", 1895
"Mis propios asuntos siempre me aburren mortalmente. Prefiero los de losdemás."
Fuente: "La importancia de llamarse Ernesto", 1895
"Muchas veces, cuando creemos estar realizando una experiencia sobre los demás,la estamos verificando sobre nosotros mismos."
Fuente: "El retrato de Dorian Gray", 1891.
"Mis deseos son órdenes para mí."
Fuente: "El retrato de Dorian Gray", 1891.
[editar]N
"Nada de lo que realmente ocurre tiene la menor importancia"
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Nada envejece tan rápido como la felicidad."
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Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Ningún crimen es vulgar, pero toda vulgaridad es un crimen. La vulgaridad es laconducta de los demás."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Ningún artista es nunca morboso. El artista puede expresarlo todo." Fuente: Prefacio de "El retrato de Dorian Gray", 1891.
"Ningún artista tiene simpatías éticas. Una simpatía ética en un artista constituyeun amaneramiento imperdonable de estilo."
Fuente: Prefacio de "El retrato de Dorian Gray", 1891.
"Ningún gran artista ve las cosas como son en realidad; si lo hiciera, dejaría de serartista."
"No existen más que dos reglas para escribir: tener algo que decir y decirlo."
"No hay cosa que más se parezca a la inconsciencia que la indiscreción."
"No hay nada como el amor de una mujer casada. Es una cosa de la que ningúnmarido tiene la menor idea."
"No hay influencia buena; toda influencia es inmoral, inmoral desde el punto devista científico. Influir sobre una persona es transmitirle nuestra propia alma."
Fuente: "El retrato de Dorian Gray", 1891.
"No hay hombre bastante rico para comprar su pasado."
"No hay libros morales ni inmorales. Los libros están bien escritos o no lo están."
Fuente: Prefacio de "El retrato de Dorian Gray", 1891.
"No tengo por qué recordarte que la expresión es en sí misma el supremo y único
modo de vida para un artista." "No olvidemos que las pequeñas acciones de cada día hacen o deshacen el
carácter."
"No voy a dejar de hablarle sólo porque no me esté escuchando. Me gustaescucharme a mí mismo. Es uno de mis mayores placeres. A menudo mantengolargas conversaciones conmigo mismo, y soy tan inteligente que a veces noentiendo ni una palabra de lo que digo."
"Nunca des explicaciones. Tus amigos no las necesitan. Tus enemigos no las creen."
[editar]P
"Para la mayoría de nosotros, la vida verdadera es la vida que no llevamos." "Para ser realmente medieval no se debería tener cuerpo. Para ser realmente
moderno no se debería tener alma. Para ser realmente griego no se debería tenerropa."
Fuente:Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"Perdona siempre a tu enemigo. No hay nada que lo enfurezca más."
"Pesimista es aquel que cuando puede escoger entre dos males, elige ambos."
"Puede que consideren una falta de educación que me presente ante ustedesfumando, pero de menos educación considero que le interrumpan a uno mientrasfuma."
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Frase que pronunció después de ser requerido por el público para salir a
saludar tras la representación teatral de una obra suya.
"Puedo resistir todo, excepto la tentación."
[editar]Q
"Que hablen de uno es espantoso. Pero hay algo peor: que no hablen."
"¿Quieres amar? Recita las letanías del amor y las palabras crearán el deseoardiente de donde se imagina el mundo que brotan."
[editar]R
"Resulta de todo punto monstruosa la forma en que la gente va por ahí hoy en díacriticándote a tus espaldas por cosas que son absoluta y completamente ciertas."
[editar]S
"Se puede admitir la fuerza bruta, pero la razón bruta es insoportable." "Ser adorado es una lata, las mujeres nos tratan exactamente como la humanidad
trata a sus Dioses. Nos adoran y están siempre molestándonos con algunapetición."
"Ser natural es la más difícil de las poses."
"Ser prematuro equivale a ser perfecto."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Si alguien dice la verdad, es seguro que tarde o temprano, será descubierto."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Siempre es bueno dar consejos, pero darlos buenos es fatal." "Siempre existe una fatalidad en las buenas resoluciones. Siempre son tomadas
demasiado pronto."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Sí, el amor está muy bien a su modo, pero la amistad es una cosa mucho más alta.Realmente nada hay en el mundo más noble y raro que una amistad verdadera."
"Si los pobres tuvieran por lo menos un buen perfil, sería sencillo resolver elproblema de la pobreza."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Si nosotros somos tan dados a juzgar a los demás, es debido a que temblamos pornosotros mismos."
"Si queremos comprender a una nación por su arte, estudiemos su arquitectura ysu música."
"Si ser distinto es un crimen yo mismo me colocaré las cadenas."
"Si una mujer se vuelve a casar al quedarse viuda, odiaba a su primer marido; si unhombre se casa por segunda vez, adoraba a su primera esposa."
"Si usted quiere saber lo que una mujer dice realmente, mírela, no la escuche."
"Solamente los superficiales se conocen a sí mismos."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Sólo las cosas sagradas merecen ser alcanzadas."
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"Sólo los dioses experimentan la muerte. Apolo ha muerto, pero Jacinto aún vive.Nerón y Narciso estarán siempre con nosotros."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Sólo los grandes maestros del estilo logran ser oscuros."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894. "Sólo podemos dar una opinión imparcial sobre las cosas que no nos interesan, sin
duda por eso mismo las opiniones imparciales carecen de valor."
"Sólo perduran las cualidades superficiales. La naturaleza interior del hombresiempre es sacada a la luz.
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Sólo se echa a perder aquella vida cuyo desarrollo se estanca."
"Soy mitad misógino mitad Adam enfurecido."
[editar]T
"Ten cuidado con lo que deseas, se puede convertir en realidad."
"Tengo gustos simples. Me satisfago con lo mejor."
"Toda cosa se convierte en un placer cuando se hace a menudo. Éste es uno de lossecretos más importantes de la existencia."
"Todo arte es completamente inútil."
"Todos los hombres matan lo que aman...Unos matan su amor cuando son jóvenesy otros cuando son viejos; unos lo ahogan con manos de lujuria, otros con manosde oro... Unos aman muy poco, otros demasiado, algunos venden y otros compran;unos dan muerte con muchas lágrimas y otros sin un suspiro; pero aunque todos
los hombres matan lo que aman, no todos deben morir por ello."
[1]
"Todos estamos en las alcantarillas, pero algunos miramos a las estrellas."
"Todas las mujeres llegan a ser como sus madres; ésa es su tragedia."
"Todo el mundo puede tener sentido común con tal de carecer de imaginación.Pero yo tengo imaginación, porque nunca veo las cosas como son."
Fuente: "Cuento: El famoso cohete."
[editar]U
"Un cínico es un hombre que conoce el precio de todo y no da valor a nada."
"Un corazón, no asienta bien con la ropa moderna."
"Un fracaso en amor es, para el hombre, como una misión cumplida.Los corazones están hechos para ser rotos."
"Un hombre puede ser feliz con cualquier mujer mientras que no la ame."
"Un hombre que moraliza es, generalmente, un hipócrita; y una mujer quemoraliza es, invariablemente, fea."
"Una gran pasión es el privilegio de la gente que no tiene nada que hacer."
"Una Máscara nos dice más que una cara"
"Una sociedad se embrutece más con el empleo habitual de los castigos que con larepetición de los delitos."
"Una verdad deja de ser cierta cuando más de una persona cree en ella."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
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"Uno debería estar siempre enamorado. Por eso jamás deberíamos casarnos."
"Uno debería: o ser una obra de arte o llevar una consigo."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
"Uno debe ser siempre un poco improbable."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894. "Uno jamás debería escuchar. Escuchar es un signo de indiferencia hacia los que
nos escuchan."
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"Un objeto hermoso en sí mismo no sugestiona al artista, pues carece deimperfecciones.
Fuente:"Algunas máximas para la instrucción de los súper-educados", 1894
"Un ojal realmente bien hecho, es el único vínculo entre el arte y la naturaleza."
Fuente: "Frases y filosofías para uso de la juventud", 1894.
[editar]Y
"Yo nunca murmuro escandalosamente. Me limito a chismorrear. El chismorreo essiempre encantador. La murmuración escandalosa es un chismorreo que lamoralidad hace aburrido."
"... y en cuanto a creer en las cosas, las creo todas con tal que sean increíbles."
[editar]La balada de la cárcel de Reading
"Todos matan lo que aman:
Unos los hacen con una mirada amarga
Otros con una palabra halagadora
el cobarde , con un beso ;
el valiente , con una espada."
Nota: Es un extracto de una estrofa de la Balada de la Cárcel
de Reading:
" And all men kill the thing they love
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"
Traducción:
"Y todos los hombres matan lo que aman, sea esto oído por todos, algunos lo
hacen con una mirada amarga, algunos con una palabra halagüeña, el cobarde
lo hace con un beso, el valiente ¡con una espada!"
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al son de flautas, bailar al son de laúdes es delicado y excepcional: ¡Pero no es dulcebailar con ágiles pies en el aire!"
God knows; I won't be an Oxford don anyhow. I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist.Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious. Or perhaps I'll lead
the life of pleasure for a time and then—who knows?—rest and do nothing. What
does Plato say is the highest end that man can attain here below? To sit down and
contemplate the good. Perhaps that will be the end of me too.
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
Tread Lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
Lo! with a little rod
I did but touch the honey of romance —
And must I lose a soul's inheritance?
Over the piano was printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his
best.
Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal.
And down the long and silent street,
The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet,
Crept like a frightened girl.
Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be
misunderstood.
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
The honest ratepayer and his healthy family have no doubt often mocked at the dome-
like forehead of the philosopher, and laughed over the strange perspective of the
landscape that lies beneath him. If they really knew who he was, they would tremble.
For Chuang Tsǔ spent his life in preaching the great creed of Inaction, and in pointing
out the uselessness of all things.
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
A poet can survive everything but a misprint.
Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each
day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
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A simile committing suicide is always a depressing spectacle.
And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of
ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course,
language.
Art finds her own perfection within, and not outside of herself. She is not to be judged by
any external standard of resemblance. She is a veil, rather than a mirror.
All art is immoral.
He is really not so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one shuts one's eyes,
and does not look at him.
le mystère de l'amour est plus grand que le mystère de la mort.
The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of 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 tomorrow. To
forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.
I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.
o J’ai mis tout mon génie dans ma vie; je n’ai mis que mon talent dans mes
œuvres.
o Conversation with André Gide in Algiers, quoted in letter by Gide to his mother
(30 January 1895); popularized by Gide and often subsequently quoted in
Gide’s later work and in "Gide, André (1869-1951)" at Standing Ovations ; the
conversation was again recalled in Gide’s journal of (3 July 1913), quoted in
“André Gide’s ‘Hommage à Oscar Wilde’ or ‘The Tale of Judas’”, Victoria Reid
(University of Glasgow, UK), Chapter 5 in Reception of Oscar Wilde in
Europe, edited by Stefano Evangelista, (8 July 2010) part of a Continuum
series The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe, ISBN 978-1-
84706005-1, pp. 98 –99, also footnote 6 (p. 99), quoting 1996 edition of Gide’s
journal, pp. 746 –47]
On George Bernard Shaw An excellent man: he has no enemies, and none of his
friends like him.
I summed up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram.
People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because
chickens run about so absurdly that it's impossible to count them accurately.
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It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
Tell me, when you are alone with him [ Max Beerbohm ] Sphinx, does he take off his
face and reveal his mask?
One can survive everything nowadays except death.
Psychology is in its infancy, as a science. I hope in the interests of Art, it will always
remain so.
I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips.
]The Happy Princ e and Other Tales (1888)
"She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses," cried the young
Student; "but in all my garden there is no red rose."
Be happy, be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by
moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that
you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and
mightier than Power, though he is mighty.
Why, what a wonderful piece of luck! Here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like
it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name.
Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.
The Decay of L ying (1889)
Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.
It is always the unreadable that occurs.
His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning.
No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be
an artist.
Art persists, it timelessly continues.
The Cri t ic as A rt ist (1891)
Meredith is a prose Browning, and so is Browning. He used poetry as a medium for
writing in prose.
Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.
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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 not the child, of thought.
Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the
biography.
Truth, in the matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.
Oh! journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.
I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull
are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood.
The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection; through
art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual
existence.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he
will tell you the truth.
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
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.
There is no sin except stupidity.
To be good, according to the vulgar standard of goodness, is obviously quite easy. It
merely requires a certain amount of sordid terror, a certain lack of imaginative thought,
and a certain low passion for middle-class respectability.
Lady W indermere's Fan (1892)
It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
Nowadays we are all of us so hard up that the only pleasant things to pay are
compliments. They're the only things we can pay.
I can resist everything except temptation.
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.
My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know
anything at all.
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Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity,
worship, love, but no friendship.
My own business always bores me to death. I prefer other people's.
Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by
morality.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and
the other is getting it.
A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. [Answering the
question, what is a cynic?]
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
I have never admitted that I am more than twenty-nine, or thirty at the most. Twenty-
nine when there are pink shades, thirty when there are not.
What a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us.
A Wom an of No Impo rtance (1893)
The growing influence of women is the one reassuring thing in our political life.
Mrs. Allonby: They say, Lady Hunstanton, that when good Americans die they go to
Paris.
Lady Hunstanton: Indeed? And when bad Americans die, where do they go to?
Lord Illingworth: Oh, they go to America.
The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three
hundred years.
The English country gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of
the uneatable.
Kelvil: May I ask, Lord Illingworth, if you regard the House of Lords as a better
institution than the House of Commons?
Lord Illingworth: A much better institution of course. We in the House of Lords are
never in touch with public opinion. That makes us a civilised body.
Lord Illingworth: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
Mrs. Allonby: It ends with Revelations.
Lady Hunstanton: But do you believe all that is written in the newspapers?
Lord Illingworth: I do. Nowadays it is only the unreadable that occurs.
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Gerald: I suppose society is wonderfully delightful?
Lord Illingworth: To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it simply a tragedy.
Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are
disappointed.
I am always astonishing myself. It is the only thing that makes life worth living.
The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and
every sinner has a future.
Children love their parents. Eventually they come to judge them. Rarely do they forgive
them.
A Few Maxims For The Instruction Of The Over-Educated (1894)
Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time
that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
The English are always degrading truths into facts. When a truth becomes a fact it
loses all its intellectual value.
It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.
The only link between Literature and the Drama left to us in England at the presentmoment is the bill of the play.
In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays
books are written by the public and read by nobody.
Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer.
Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person
who is never serious.
To be really mediæval one should have no body. To be really modern one should
have no soul. To be really Greek one should have no clothes.
Even the disciple has his uses. He stands behind one's throne, and at the moment
of one's triumph whispers in one's ear that, after all, one is immortal.
The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. The only thing
that can console one for being rich is economy.
Those whom the gods love grow young.
Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young (1894)
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Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of
dead religions.
If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.
Patriotism is the vice of nations.
Only the shallow know themselves.
In examinations the foolish ask questions that the wise cannot answer.
The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young
know everything.
To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
One should always be a little improbable.
Time is a waste of money.
The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being
always absolutely over-educated.
The Imp ortance of B eing Earnest (1895)
Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the
use of them?
The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly
scandalous.
My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet,
refined girl.
I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance islike a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.
The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty and
to someone else if she is plain.
Ah! That must be Aunt Augusta. Only relatives, or creditors, ever ring in that
Wagnerian manner.
To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose
both looks like carelessness.
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An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or
unpleasant as the case may be.
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does.
That's his.
o Algernon, Act I
Jack: That, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple.
Algernon: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be
very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!
o Act I
o Often quoted as "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and
never simple."
I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that Imay be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.
In married life, three is company, and two is none.
Of course the music is a great difficulty. You see, if one plays good music,
people don't listen, and if one plays bad music people don't talk.
It is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what
one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't
read.
I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should
know either everything or nothing.
Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest
knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die.
Mothers, of course, are all right. They pay a chap's bills and don't bother him.
But fathers bother a chap and never pay his bills.
No gentleman ever has any money.
When a man does exactly what a woman expects him to do she doesn't think
much of him. One should always do what a woman doesn't expect, just as one
should say what she doesn't understand.
I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational
to read in the train.
The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man. And certainly
once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully
effeminate, does he not?
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I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and
being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.
The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.
The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a
momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is
almost unbearable.
Well, I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get
on my cuffs. One must eat muffins quite calmly, it is the only way to eat them.
Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get
into it do that.
To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people theopportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think
is never advisable.
Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very
highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.
I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being
Earnest.
An Ideal Husb and (1895)
Oh, I love London society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and
brilliant lunatics. Just what society should be.
Science can never grapple with the irrational. That is why it has no future
before it, in this world.
Even you are not rich enough, Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.
No man is rich enough to buy back his own past.
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any
use to oneself.
Sooner or later we have all to pay for what we do.
Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.
I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.
Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everythingexcept the obvious.
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Musical people are so absurdly unreasonable. They always want one to be
perfectly dumb a the very moment when one is longing to be absolutely deaf.
All sins, except a sin against itself, Love should forgive. All lives, save loveless
lives, true Love should pardon.
Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people
wear.
The only possible society is oneself.
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
However, it is always nice to be expected, and not to arrive.
Oh, why will parents always appear at the wrong time? Some extraordinary
mistake in nature, I suppose.
Lord Caversham: No woman, plain or pretty, has any common sense at all,
sir. Common sense is the privilege of our sex.
Lord Goring: Quite so. And we men are so self-sacrificing that we never use
it, do we, father?
Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell
you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength, strength and
courage, to yield to.
Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are.
Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for
family life. Mothers are different. Mothers are darlings.
When one pays a visit it is for the purpose of wasting other people's time, not
one's own.
If we men married the women we deserved, we should have a very bad time of
it.
I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me
far too conceited.
Now don't stir. I'll be back in five minutes. And don't fall into any temptations
while I am away.
The Soul of Man Under Social ism (1895)
Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and
so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered
from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state
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of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to
do most good.
Charity creates a multitude of sins.
Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion.
Misery and poverty are so absolutely degrading, and exercise such a
paralysing effect over the nature of men, that no class is ever really conscious
of its own suffering. They have to be told of it by other people, and they often
entirely disbelieve them.
Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the
poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving toeat less.
As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg.
Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some
perfectly contented class of the community, and sow the seeds of discontent
amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary.
Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards
civilisation.
For the recognition of private property has really harmed Individualism, and
obscured it, by confusing a man with what he possesses. It has led
Individualism entirely astray. It has made gain not growth its aim. So that man
thought that the important thing was to have, and did not know that the
important thing is to be. The true perfection of man lies, not in what man
has, but in what man is.
Now, nothing should be able to harm a man except himself. Nothing should be
able to rob a man at all. What a man really has, is what is in him. What is
outside of him should be a matter of no importance.
With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful,
healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the
symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world.
Most people exist, that is all.
Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists
authority.
The note of the perfect personality is not rebellion, but peace.
It will be a marvellous thing--the true personality of man--when we see it. It will
grow naturally and simply, flowerlike, or as a tree grows. It will not be at
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discord. It will never argue or dispute. It will not prove things. It will know
everything. And yet it will not busy itself about knowledge. It will have wisdom.
Its value will not be measured by material things. It will have nothing. And yet it
will have everything, and whatever one takes from it, it will still have, so rich will
it be. It will not be always meddling with others, or asking them to be like itself.
It will love them because they will be different. And yet while it will not meddle
with others, it will help all, as a beautiful thing helps us, by being what it is. The
personality of man will be very wonderful. It will be as wonderful as the
personality of a child.
'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal
of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.
Don't imagine that your perfection lies in accumulating or possessing external
things. Your affection is inside of you. If only you could realise that, you would
not want to be rich. Ordinary riches can be stolen from a man. Real richescannot. In the treasury-house of your soul, there are infinitely precious things,
that may not be taken from you. And so, try to so shape your life that external
things will not harm you. And try also to get rid of personal property. It involves
sordid preoccupation, endless industry, continual wrong. Personal property
hinders Individualism at every step.
There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than
the rich, and that is the poor.
Man reaches his perfection, not through what he has, not even through what
he does, but entirely through what he is.
The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public
opinion is of no value whatsoever.
High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the
bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and
degrades those over whom it is exercised.
The fact is, that civilisation requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there.
Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and
contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure,
and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the
future of the world depends.
A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at,
for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.
A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes
from the fact that the author is what he is. It has nothing to do with the fact that
other people want what they want.
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Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.
The public has always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are
continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their
absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what
they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after
eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their
own stupidity. Now Art should never try to be popular. The public should try to
make itself artistic. There is a very wide difference.
Art is Individualism, and Individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force.
Therein lies its immense value. For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of
type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level
of a machine.
They are always asking a writer why he does not write like somebody else, or apainter why he does not paint like somebody else, quite oblivious of the fact
that if either of them did anything of the kind he would cease to be an artist.
In the old days men had the rack. Now they have the Press.
If a man approaches a work of art with any desire to exercise authority over it
and the artist, he approaches it in such a spirit that he cannot receive any
artistic impression from it at all. The work of art is to dominate the
spectator: the spectator is not to dominate the work of art. The spectator is
to be receptive. He is to be the violin on which the master is to play. And the
more completely he can suppress his own silly views, his own foolish
prejudices, his own absurd ideas of what Art should be, or should not be, the
more likely he is to understand and appreciate the work of art in question.
People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an
artist to live under. To this question there is only one answer. The form of
government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all. Authority
over him and his art is ridiculous.
There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannises over the
body. There is the despot who tyrannises over the soul. There is the despotwho tyrannises over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The
second is called the Pope. The third is called the People.
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one
wishes to live.
A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes.
Change is the one quality we can predicate of it.
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For what man has sought for is, indeed, neither pain nor pleasure, but simply
Life. Man has sought to live intensely, fully, perfectly. When he can do so
without exercising restraint on others, or suffering it ever, and his activities are
all pleasurable to him, he will be saner, healthier, more civilised, more himself.
Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When man is happy, he is in
harmony with himself and his environment.
The Bal lad of Reading Gaol (1898)
I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky.
When a voice behind me whispered low,
"That fellow's got to swing."
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
It is sweet to dance to violins
When Love and Life are fair:
To dance to flutes, to dance to lutes
Is delicate and rare:
But it is not sweet with nimble feet
To dance upon the air!
Something was dead in each of us,
And what was dead was Hope.
And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,
None knew so well as I:
For he who lives more lives than one
More deaths than one must die.
And alien tears will fill for him
Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.
I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in gaolIs that the wall is strong;
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And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
The vilest deeds like poison weeds
Bloom well in prison air;
It is only what is good in man
That wastes and withers there;
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate
And the Warder is Despair.
And all, but Lust, is turned to dust
In Humanity's machine.
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?
De Profun dis (1895)
I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell
lies is much worse.
A thing is, according to the mode in which one looks at it.
Only good questions deserve good answers.
It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little.
The supreme vice is shallowness.
We are specially designed to appeal to the sense of humour.
We are the zanies of sorrow. We are clowns whose hearts are broken.
When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the
moon, and mapped out the seven heavens, there still remains oneself. Who
can calculate the orbit of his own soul?
Where there is sorrow there is holy ground.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions,
their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
For a sentimentalist is simply one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion
without paying for it.
All trials are trials of one's life, just as all sentences are sentences of death.[1]
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Unsourced
Note: A great many misquotations are attributed to Wilde. Please seek to verify the
provenance of any quotations you believe should be ascribed to him. Once quote has
been sourced, please remove it from this section and place it in the proper area of the
"Sourced" section above.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be
when you can't help it.
The only creative thought one can have in an institution is how to get out.
A true friend stabs you in the front
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Bigamy is having a wife too many, monogamy is the same.
A lie is the beginning of a new story. That's why we love Art.
Buck up and be jolly, my dear lady! Stillbirth is a sign that God has a sense of
humour!
o Notes: It is claimed that Wilde said this upon visiting a London birthing
ward and visiting with a distraught mother who had just birthed stillborntwins.
My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us
has to go.
o Note: Wilde said this in the Left Bank hotel in Paris where he died on
November 30, 1900. The wallpaper has also since gone and the room
re-furnished in the style of one of Wilde's London flats. See
also Famous last words.
o Sometimes misquoted as "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."
I am dying as I have lived: beyond my means.
o Note: Wilde is supposed to have said this on his deathbed, while
drinking a glass of champagne.
I don't recognize you - I've changed a lot.
I have nothing to declare except my genius.
o This is one of Wilde's most famous sayings, which he is supposed to
have said while passing through a customs checkpoint in New York.
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However, there is no contemporary evidence that such words were
ever uttered, and the first record of them is by Arthur Ransome in his
1912 book Oscar Wilde: A Critical Study . For more
see: http://www.owsoa.org/quotations1.htm
In every first novel the hero is the author as Christ or Faust.
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.
One of the requisites of sanity is to disagree with the majority of the
British public.
Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
o Quoted by Frank Harris in Oscar Wilde: His Life and
Confessions (1916)
Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
[edit]Quotes about Wilde
Alphabetized by author
From the beginning Wilde performed his life and continued to do so even
after fate had taken the plot out of his hands.
o W. H. Auden, "An Improbable Life," review of The Letters of Oscar
Wilde (editor, Rupert Hart-Davis) in The New Yorker, (9 March
1963)
Despite the number of his books and plays, Mr. Wilde was not, I think,
what one calls a born writer. His writing seemed always to be rather an
overflow of intellectual temperamental energy than an inevitable,
absorbing function. That he never concentrated himself on any one form of
literature is a proof that the art of writing never really took hold of him.
o Max Beerbohm, quoted in Saturday Review (8 December 1900)
An Assyrian wax statue, effeminate, but with the vitality of twenty men.
o Max Beerbohm, quoted in Cecil Beaton's diary, (September 1953)
That sovereign of insufferables, Oscar Wilde has ensued with his opulence
of twaddle and his penury of sense. He has mounted his hind legs and
blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck, to the capitaledification of circumjacent fools and foolesses, fooling with their foolers.
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He has tossed off the top of his head and uttered himself in copious
overflows of ghastly bosh. The ineffable dunce has nothing to say and
says it—says it with a liberal embellishment of bad delivery, embroidering
it with reasonless vulgarities of attitude, gesture and attire. There never
was an impostor so hateful, a blockhead so stupid, a crank so variously
and offensively daft. Therefore is the she fool enamored of the feel of his
tongue in her ear to tickle her understanding.
The limpid and spiritless vacuity of this intellectual jellyfish is in ludicrous
contrast with the rude but robust mental activities that he came to quicken
and inspire. Not only has he no thoughts, but no thinker. His lecture is
mere verbal ditch-water —meaningless, trite and without coherence. It
lacks even the nastiness that exalts and refines his verse. Moreover, it is
obviously his own; he had not even the energy and independence to steal
it. And so, with a knowledge that would equip and idiot to dispute with a
cast-iron dog, and eloquence to qualify him for the duties of a caller on a
hog-ranch, and an imagination adequate to the conception of a tom-cat,when fired by contemplation of a fiddle-string, this consummate and star-
like youth, missing everywhere his heaven-appointed functions and offices,
wanders about, posing as a statue of himself, and, like the sun-smitten
image of Memnon, emitting meaningless murmurs in the blaze of women’s
eyes.
He makes me tired. And this gawky gowk has the divine effrontery to link
his name with those of Swinburne, Rossetti and Morris—this dunghill he-
hen would fly with eagles. He dares to set his tongue to the honored name
of Keats. He is the leader, quoth’a, of a renaissance in art, this man who
cannot draw—of a revival of letters, this man who cannot write! This little
and looniest of a brotherhood of simpletons, whom the wicked wits of
London, haling him dazed from his obscurity, have crowned and crucified
as King of the Cranks, has accepted the distinction in stupid good faith and
our foolish people take him at his word. Mr. Wilde is pinnacled upon a
dazzling eminence but the earth still trembles to the dull thunder of the
kicks that set him up.
o Ambrose Bierce in an unsigned comment from a column
titled Prattle in the satirical magazine Wasp, San Francisco (31
March 1882)
Leyendo y releyendo, a lo largo de los años, a Wilde, noto un hecho que
sus panegiristas no parecen haber sospechado siquiera: el hecho
comprobable y elemental de que Wilde, casi siempre, tiene razón.
o Reading and re-reading Wilde throughout the years, I notice a fact
that people who praise him apparently haven't in the very least:
the basic and verifiable fact that Wilde is almost always right.
o Jorge Luis Borges, Obras completas, Vol. II, p. 70
Como Chesterton, como Lang, como Boswell, Wilde es de aquellos
venturosos que pueden prescindir de la aprobación de la crítica y aun, a
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veces, de la aprobación del lector, pues el agrado que nos proporciona su
trato es irresistible y constante.
o Like Chesterton, like Lang, like Boswell, Wilde is one of the happy
few who do not need the approval of the critic, nor even,
sometimes, the approval of the reader, for the pleasure they give
us is constant and irresistible.
o Jorge Luis Borges, Obras completas, Vol. II, p. 71
The same lesson [of the pessimistic pleasure-seeker] was taught by the
very powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde. It is the carpe
diem religion; but the carpe diem religion is not the religion of happy
people, but of very unhappy people. Great joy does not gather the
rosebuds while it may; its eyes are fixed on the immortal rose
which Dante saw.
o G.K. Chesterton in "Heretics" (1905)
He was a great artist. He also was really a charlatan. I mean by a
charlatan one sufficiently dignified to despise the tricks that he employs. ...
Wilde and his school professed to stand as solitary artistic souls apart from
the public. They professed to scorn the middle class, and declared that the
artist must not work for the bourgeois. The truth is that no artist so really
great ever worked so much for the bourgeois as Oscar Wilde. No man, so
capable of thinking about truth and beauty, ever thought so constantly
about his own effect on the middle classes. ... One might go through his
swift and sparkling plays with a red and blue pencil marking two kinds of epigrams; the real epigram which he wrote to please his own wild intellect,
and the sham epigram which he wrote to thrill the very tamest part of our
tame civilization.
o G. K. Chesterton, in Daily News (19 October 1909)
Wilde's voice was of the brown velvet order — mellifluous — rounded — in
a sense giving it a plummy quality — rather on the adenotic side — but
practically pure cello — and very pleasing.
o Franlin Dyall, quoted in Life of Oscar Wilde by Hesketh Pearson
Oscar Wilde did not dive very deeply below the surface of human nature,
but found, to a certain extent rightly, that there is more on the surface of
life than is seen by the eyes of most people.
o J. T. Grein, quoted in Sunday Special (9 December 1900)
No, I've never cared for his work. Too scented.
o Rudyard Kipling, quoted by Harry Ricketts in The Unforgiving
Minute, (1999)
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If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.
o Dorothy Parker in A Pig's-Eye View of Literature (1937)
Men lived more vividly in his presence, and talked better than themselves.
o Arthur Ransome, in Oscar Wilde, A Critical Study
He was never quite sure himself where and when he was serious.
o Robert Ross, letter to Adela Schuster (23 December 1900)
What has Oscar in common with Art? except that he dines at our tables
and picks from our platter the plums for the puddings he peddles in the
provinces.o James McNeill Whistler in The World (November 1886)
"I wish I'd said that"
(by Wilde, to a witty remark by James McNeill Whistler ), to which Whistler riposted:
o "You will, Oscar, you will!"
o James McNeill Whistler
Quoted in James McNeil Whistler by Lisa N. Peters,
p. 57, ISBN 1-880908-70-0.
The dinner table was Wilde's event and made him the greatest talker of his
time…