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
On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one's mind. It becomes a pleasure. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Technique is really personality. That is the reason why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and why… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Artists reproduce themselves or each other, with wearisome iteration. But criticism is always moving on, and the critic is always developing. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
If art is to have a special train, the critic must keep some seats reserved on it. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
No publisher should ever express an opinion of the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The nineteenth century is a turning point in history, simply on account of the work of two men, Darwin and Renan, the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
No publisher should ever express an opinion on the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Temperament is the primary requisite for the critic - a temperament exquisitely susceptible to beauty, and to the various impressions that beauty… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
That is what the highest criticism really is, the record of one's own soul. It is more fascinating than history, as it… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The true critic is he who bears within himself the dreams and ideas and feelings of myriad generations, and to whom no… — 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 Image
Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
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 Image
