The only form of fiction in which real characters do not seem out of place is history. In novels they are detestable. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
For the canons of good society are, or should be, the same as the canons of art. Form is absolutely essential to… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
“And Beauty is a form of Genius - is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation.” — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Yes, I am a thorough republican. No other form of government is so favorable to the growth of art. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The only form of lying that is absolutely beyond reproach is lying for its own sake. — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Ethics, like natural selection, make existence possible. Aesthetics, like sensual selection, make life lovely and wonderful, fill it with new forms, and… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
If one were to live his life fully and completely were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The history of women is the history of the worst form of tyranny the world has ever known. The tyranny of the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The poet is the supreme artist, for he is the master of colour and of form, and the real musician besides, and… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
There is no mode of action, no form of emotion, that we do not share with the lower animals. It is only… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them,… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The ancient historians gave us delightful fiction in the form of fact; the modern novelist presents us with dull facts under the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Yes, I am a thorough republican. No other form of government is so favorable to the growth of art. ...because of the… — 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 form of government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all. ... One might point out how… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
But whether I become a believer or remain an agnostic, my belief or disbelief must derive its source from within, not from… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Beauty is a form of Genius--is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The mere mechanical technique of acting can be taught, but the spirit that is to give life to lifeless forms must be… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
She has form," he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove - "that cannot be denied to her; but… — 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
Fashion rests upon folly. Art rests upon law. Fashion is ephemeral. Art is eternal. Indeed what is a fashion really? A fashion… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
Perhaps there may come into my art also, no less than into my life, a still deeper note, one of greater unity… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence. No other activity was like it. To project one's soul into some… — 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 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
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
What the artist is always looking for is the mode of existence in which soul and body are one and indivisible: in… — 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
For life is terribly deficient in form. Its catastrophes happen in the wrong way and to the wrong people. There is a… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them. We live in an age when… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The form of government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all. Authority over him and his art… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
That very concentration of vision and intensity of purpose which is the characteristic of the artistic temperament is in itself a mode… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
The best work in literature is always done by those who do not depend on it for their daily bread and the… — Oscar Wilde Copy Share Image
It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is… — 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
