And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
Full text.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Simple pleasures are the last refuge of the complex.
Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.
A true friend stabs you in the front.
Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
[Wilde:] I wish I had said that.
[James Whistler:] You will, Oscar, you will.
in Oscar Wilde ( L. C. Ingleby)
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking other people to live as one wishes to live.
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.
Nothing is so aggravating as calmness.
Put your talent into your work, but your genius into your life.
The truth is rarely plain and never simple.
Who, being loved, is poor?
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one's mind. It becomes a pleasure.
WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
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