



The Importance of Being Earnest “Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.” Oscar Wilde quote “All women become like their mothers. Oscar Wilde quote “A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.” Oscar Wilde quote “A man’s face is his autobiography. Oscar Wilde quote “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” Oscar Wilde quote “A good friend will always stab you in the front.” The Picture of Dorian Gray “A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” Oscar Wilde quote “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” With this in mind, here is our pick of 80 of the very best Oscar Wilde quotes: “A bore is someone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.” Such quotes as, ‘ I can resist everything except temptation’ ‘ Work is the curse of the drinking class’ ‘There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about’, and the more sober, ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’, have become common sayings. Many of Oscar Wilde’s observations, taken from his writing and his reported conversations and speeches, have become common currency in the modern English language. As his life was ending in a cheap bed in a rundown French pension the poverty-stricken Wilde, according to friends attending his death, looked around the shabby room, and said: ‘ My wallpaper and I are in a battle to the death, one or the other must go.’ And always amusing, while being thought-provoking.Įven on his deathbed, he couldn’t help it. He had a unique mind – one that couldn’t help applying a cynical tongue to just about everything he saw and heard. Shakespeare apart, he is, without doubt, the most quoted of writers in the English language. Wilde was born in Ireland and located to London in early adulthood, He is often referred to as an English writer and these days he is regarded as a national treasure in both countries. His major plays The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan and An Ideal Husband are regularly performed and new films and television versions appear annually. His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is one of the iconic novels of the late 19th century. Not only was he the most popular playwright of West End theatreland, he was also a colourful and flamboyant man-about-London, welcomed everywhere for his amusing speeches and lectures. Oscar Wilde was the toast of Victorian London. The page includes 80 of the very best great Oscar Wilde quotes (see our take on the very best Oscar Wilde love quotes here). Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order. Plays It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 15.After having completed his sentence, he wrote a final text about prison from Paris, where he took refuge, and died some time later in the most destitute conditions at the age of 46. His flamboyant personality and sharp wit have made him a celebrity, and his plays like "The Importance of Being Earnest" triumphed in London, while his only novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" raised criticism because of its moral ambiguity.Īt the peak of his fame, Oscar Wilde was convicted of immorality following a dispute with his lover's father who was trying to make his homosexuality publicly known. Oscar Wilde became part of London's cultural scene and published in many literary genres, including journalism and poetry. Influenced by Walter Pater and John Ruskin, Wilde was noticed for his dandy style and became involved in the philosophical movement of aestheticism. Oscar Wilde came from an educated background and distinguished himself with brilliant studies that led him to Magdalen College at Oxford University. Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde) was an Irish writer, born in Dublin on 16 October 1854 and died in Paris on 30 November 1900.
