If property had simply pleasures, we could stand it; but its duties make it unbearable. In the interest of the rich we must get rid of it. – Oscar Wilde
Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. – Oscar Wilde
Prayer must never be answered: if it is, it ceases to be prayer and becomes correspondence. – Oscar Wilde
History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality. – Oscar Wilde
A poet can survive anything but a misprint. – Oscar Wilde
He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realise. – Oscar Wilde
Patriotism, the virtue of the vicious. – Oscar Wilde
Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both. – Oscar Wilde
The basis of optimism is sheer terror. – Oscar Wilde
Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. – Oscar Wilde
Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory. – Oscar Wilde
When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is. – Oscar Wilde
The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. – Oscar Wilde
It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. – Oscar Wilde
Life is not governed by will or intention. Life is a question of nerves, and fibers, and slowly built-up cells in which thought hides itself and passion has its dreams. – Oscar Wilde
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. – Oscar Wilde
A man who marries his mistress leaves a vacancy in that position. – Oscar Wilde
How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. – Oscar Wilde
The modern sympathy with invalids is morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to encourage in others. – Oscar Wilde
There are moments when art attains almost to the dignity of manual labor. – Oscar Wilde
