For the canons of good society are, or should be, the same as the canons of art. Form is absolutely essential to it. It should have the dignity of a ceremony, as well as its...

If one plays good music, people don’t listen, and if one plays bad music people don’t talk.

It is simply expression, as Henry says, that gives reality to things.

There were sins whose fascination was more in the memory than in the doing of them, strange triumphs that gratified the pride more than the passions, and gave to the intellect a quickened sense of...

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

Nicioadata nu aprob sau dezaprob un lucru, e o atitudine absurda fata de viata. Nu suntem trimisi in lume ca sa ne exibitionam prejudecatile morale” – Dorian Gray

Every one is worthy of love, except him who thinks that he is. Love is asacrament that should be taken kneeling.

Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.

I keep a diary in order to enter the wonderful secrets of my life. If I didn’t write them down, I should not probably forget all about them.

Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it.

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.

The well bred contradict other people. the wise contradict themselves.

The world is a stage and the play is badly cast.

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

My dear fellow, it isn’t easy to be anything nowadays. There’s such a lot of beastly competition about.

You can never be overdressed or overeducated.

Im Krieg machen die Starken die Schwachen zu Sklaven, im Frieden machen die Reichen die Armen zu Sklaven.

I have no objection to anyone’s sex life as long as they don’t practice it in the street and frighten the horses.

There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His...

Human life–that appeared to him the one thing worth investigating. Compared to it there was nothing else of any value. It was true that as one watched life in its curious crucible of pain and...

Olvidar un hecho, es modificar el pasado.

Nicio viata nu e stricata cu exceptia celei care este oprita. Daca vrei sa strici caracterul cuiva nu trebuie decat sa il reformezi

the costume of the nineteenth century is detestable. It is so sombre, so depressing. Sin is the only real colour-element left in modern life.

Dear little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘you tell me of marvelous things, but more marvelous than anything is the suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery so great as Misery.

A good friend will always stab you in the front.

Nada mudou. Afastada das sombras irreais da noite, ressurge a vida, na sua realidade já conhecida. Devemos retomá-la onde a deixamos e apodera-se de nós o terrível sentimento de continuidade necessária da energia no mesmo...

Pleasure is Nature’s test, her sign of approval.

[J]ene Entsagungen, die die Menschen alberner Weise Tugenden nennen […]

There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence. No other activity was like it. To project one’s soul into some gracious form, and let it tarry there for a moment; to hear one’s...

Who, being loved, is poor?

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.

Well, the way of paradoxes is the way of truth. To test reality we must see it on the tight rope. When the verities become acrobats, we can judge them.

I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now,...

I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.

When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss Art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss Money

Moral grounds are always the last refuge of people who have no sense of beauty.

If a woman cannot make her mistakes charming, she is only a female.

To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.

I have a business appointment that I am anxious… to miss.

Oh, I can’t explain. When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the...

Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself.

America has never quite forgiven Europe for having been discovered somewhat earlier in history than itself.

Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind and poisons us.

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

Duty is what one expects from others.

It is the duty of every father… to write fairy tales for his children.

You have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you don’t even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and...

We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.

With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.