Sourced
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III (1892)
Authors / Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde quotes
1854–1900 · Irish playwright, novelist and wit
Wilde turned the drawing-room epigram into an art form: a sentence that sounds frivolous and turns out to be a philosophy. Because he is so quotable, the internet credits him with lines he never wrote — so his page has an unusually long "not theirs" list.
11 real · 1 not theirs
Really theirs
11 quotes traced to Oscar Wilde's own work or a reliable witness.
Sourced
I can resist everything except temptation.
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan, Act I (1892)
Sourced
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III (1892)
Sourced
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III (1892)
Sourced
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 1 (1890)
Sourced
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
Spoken by Lord Henry, the novel's charming corrupter — not Wilde's advice.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 2 (1890)
Sourced
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Sourced
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
Source: The Critic as Artist, Part II (1891)
Sourced
To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
Source: Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
Sourced
Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer.
Source: A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
Attributed
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Source: Widely attributed; no primary source located
Not theirs
1 famous lines credited to Oscar Wilde that are misquoted, unsourced or belong to someone else.
Not theirs
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Actually: No trace in Wilde's works, letters or recorded conversation. It was attached to his name only in recent decades.