Experience is a question of instinct about life.
When bankers get together they talk about art. When artists get together, they talk about money.
I never take any notice to what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do.
Pray don’t talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.
Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.
It is so easy to convince others; it is so difficult to convince oneself.
All great ideas are dangerous.
I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.
Good taste is the excuse I’ve always given for leading such a bad life.
Art only begins where Imitation ends.
All the spring may be hidden in the single bud, and the low ground nest of the lark may hold the joy that is to herald the feet of many rose-red dawns.
A man who takes himself too seriously will find that no one else takes him seriously.
The secret to life is to enjoy the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived.
It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and then only, does it comes into existence.
He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize.
Anybody can make history; only a great man can write it.
My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.
Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. What this century worships is wealth. The God of this century is wealth. To succeed one must have wealth. At all costs one must have wealth.
A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.