"We are all in the gutter.....but some of us are looking at the stars"

by berylblue 10 Replies latest jw friends

  • berylblue
    berylblue

    Someone, in a thread a while back, mentioned that he thought Oscar Wilde was merely remembered because of his homosexuality, his conviction and jail sentence. On line, there are many sites which feature quotes from this genius. Following are some. Enjoy!

    Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
    Oscar Wilde, In Life of Oscar Wilde, H. Pearson

    - More quotations on: [ Drinking]
    One's real life is often the life that one does not lead.
    Oscar Wilde, L'Envoi, 1882
    I can resist anything but temptation.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act I
    It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act I
    Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act I

    - More quotations on: [ Life]
    Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III

    - More quotations on: [ Experience]
    Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III

    - More quotations on: [ Gossip]
    We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III
    What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
    Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III

    - More quotations on: [ Cynicism]
    Only the shallow know themselves.
    Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
    Oscar Wilde
    Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
    Oscar Wilde
    The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.
    Oscar Wilde

    - More quotations on: [ Advice]
    The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
    Oscar Wilde

    - More quotations on: [ Religion]
    To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity.
    Oscar Wilde
    Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
    Oscar Wilde
    Why was I born with such contemporaries?
    Oscar Wilde
    When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
    Oscar Wilde, An Ideal husband, 1893
    Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.
    Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband, 1893, Act I
    Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
    Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, 1905
    We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
    Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost, 1882

    - More quotations on: [ England] [Language]
    But what is the difference between literature and journalism?
    ...Journalism is unreadable and literature is not read. That is all.
    Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Journalism]
    It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art.
    Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, 1891
    The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
    Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Genius]
    A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
    Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, part 2, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Sincerity]
    One is tempted to define man as a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
    Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, part 2, 1891
    The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
    Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895, Act I

    - More quotations on: [ Truth]
    To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
    Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895, Act I
    Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.
    Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 3
    It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
    Oscar Wilde, The Model Millionaire, 1912

    - More quotations on: [ Money]
    A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Enemies]
    Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Children]
    I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Simplicity]
    I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Belief]
    I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Acting]
    Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ America]
    The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Optimism]
    The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

    - More quotations on: [ Age]
    When a woman marries again, it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
    Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our intellects.
    Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray,
  • Hamas
    Hamas

    alt

    Under the big bright yellow sun

    Under the big bright yellow sun

    Under the big bright yellow sun

    .........

    ...

    seemed appropiate is all !!!!

    ..Hi Beryl (hug)

  • berylblue
    berylblue

    Hamas, love your style....

  • Brummie
    Brummie

    Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.

    Now aint that the truth! (dont agree).

    Brummie

  • garybuss
    garybuss

    I love a sage . . . . . and then getting them to talk . . . . . that's the real issue . . . .

    Thanks for the post. I loved it! GaryB

  • rocketman
    rocketman

    Some excellent stuff!

  • berylblue
    berylblue

    Yes, Oscar Wilde was great.

  • talesin
    talesin

    great thread, beryl. he was a great wit and an enduring spirit.

    my favourite Oscar Wilde quote is "the best revenge is living well". it is a great philosophy, and works for me.

  • ninecharger
    ninecharger

    Any Rock Groupie would say"Never mind looking at them, I wanna sleep under them!"

    9

  • OrbitingTheSun
    OrbitingTheSun

    I adore Oscar Wilde. Some of my favorites: "Truth is rarely pure, and never simple."
    Oscar Wilde, from "The Importance of Being Earnest"

    "A man's face is his autobiography.
    A woman's face is her work of fiction."
    Oscar Wilde

    "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."
    Oscar Wilde

    “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know
    everything - except what is worth knowing.”    Oscar Wilde

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