“The form of government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself, because he is absolutely himself.” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
There are moments when art attains almost to the dignity of manual labor. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The good we get from art is not what we learn from it; it is what we become through it. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it's dead for you. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The best art is about individualism, free self-expression and realising a unique, imaginative perspective- A true artist takes no notice whatever of… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
A critic should be taught to criticise a work of art without making any reference to the personality of the author. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream.” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid.” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“What you have told me is quite a romance, a romance of art one might call it, and the worst of having… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under. To this question there is only… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“But I think it will bring you something besides this, something that is the knowledge of real strength in art: not that… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The fact is, the public make use of the classics of a country as a means of checking the progress of Art.… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
There should be a law that no ordinary newspaper should be allowed to write about art. The harm they do by their… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“And so it is in poetry also: all this love of curious French metres like the Ballade, the Villanelle, the Rondel; all… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“I call it our English Renaissance because it is indeed a sort of new birth of the spirit of man, like the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Poets are not so scrupulous as you are. They know how useful passion is for publication. Nowadays a broken heart will run… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“The public make use of the classics of a country as a means of checking the progress of Art. They degrade the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“Pre-Raphaelites they called themselves; not that they imitated the early Italian masters at all, but that in their work, as opposed to… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“If they know nothing of death, it is because they know little of life, for the secrets of life and death belong… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“The one charm about the past is that it is the past. But women never know when the curtain has fallen. They… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The true artist is known by what he annexes, and he annexes everything. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
A true artist takes no notice whatever of the public. The public to him are non-existent. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists. Good” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
A really well-made buttonhole is the only link between Art and Nature. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
“Basil my dear boy puts everything that is charming in him into his work. The consequence is that he has nothing left for life… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
“If these elements of beauty are real, the whole thing simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect. Suddenly we find that we are… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
Men always want to be a womans first love. Women have a more subtle instinct: What they like is to be a mans last… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
Moderation is a fatal thing. Enough is as bad as a meal. More than enough is as good as a feast. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share
