The State is to make what is useful. The individual is to make what is beautiful. – Oscar Wilde
He had that curious love of green, which in individuals is always the sign of a subtle artistic temperament, and in nations is said to denote a laxity, if not a decadence of morals. – Oscar Wilde
It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. – Oscar Wilde
Now that the House of Commons is trying to become useful, it does a great deal of harm. – Oscar Wilde
The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it — a State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes — will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished. – John Stuart Mill