America and Americans
The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three hundred years.
Appearance
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
Arguments and Controversy
Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.
Art and Artists
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.
Art and Artists
All art is quite useless.
Books and Reading
The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.
Candor and Sincerity
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
City and Country
Anybody can be good in the country.
Conceit, Egotism, and Vanity
To love one's self is the beginning of a life-long romance.
Cynicism
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
Desire
In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
Education
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Enemies
A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Excess
Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.
Experience
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
Faithfulness and Loyalty
Those who are faithless know the pleasures of love; it is the faithful who know love's tragedies.
Fashion
A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months.
Flirtation and Romance
When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.
Flirtation and Romance
Nothing spoils a romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman.
Gossip and Rumor
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Humans and Human Nature
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
Ideals and Idealism
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Idleness and Laziness
To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.
Imitation
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Kindness
One can always be kind to people one cares nothing about.
Love
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with abitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
Marriage
Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.
Men and Women
LORD ILLINGWORTH: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
MRS. ALLONBY: It ends with Revelations.
Parents and Parenthood
Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
Punctuality
He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.
Self-Knowledge and Self-Deception
Only the shallow know themselves.
Society
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.
Sports
The English country gentleman galloping after a fox—the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.
Thrift
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
War
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.
