Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man Quotes

“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“It's the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Nature is no great mother who has home us. She is our own creation. It is in our brain that she quickens to life. Things are because we see them, and what we see and how we see it depends on the arts that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“The tragedy of old age is not that one is old but that one is young.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Women are made to be loved, not to be understood.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“One knows so well the popular idea of health: the English country gentleman galloping after a fox - the unspeakable in full pursuit of the unbeatable.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“We are never more true to ourselves than when we are inconsistent.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Better to take pleasure in a rose than to put its root under a microscope.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“What is the difference between scandal and gossip? Oh! gossip is charming! History is merely gossip, but scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst—the last is a real tragedy.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“To the philosopher women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“What a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live: and unselfishness is letting other people's lives alone, not interfering with them.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love, but there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“There are terrible temptations that it requires strength--strength and
courage--to yield to. To stake all one's life on one throw--whether the
stake be power or pleasure I care not--there is no weakness in that.
There is a horrible, a terrible, courage.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“The world has been made by fools that wise men may live in it. Women”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations. In”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“The public is wonderfully tolerant; it forgives everything except genius. Life”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly rational being.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“What a fuss people make about fidelity! Why, even in love it is purely a question for physiology. It has nothing to do with our own will. Young men want to be faithful and are not; old men want to be faithless and cannot—that is all one can say.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“Ordinary women never appeal to one's imagination. They are limited to their century. No glamour ever transfigures them. One knows their minds as easily as one knows their bonnets. One can always find them. There is no mystery in any of them. They ride in the park in the morning and chatter at tea parties in the afternoon. They have their stereotyped smile and their fashionable mauve.”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly, but I don't see any chance of it just at present. Modern”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“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. There”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“We are never more true to ourselves than when we are inconsistent. There”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“There are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life fully, entirely, completely, or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands. When”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man

“If you wish to understand others you must intensify your own individualism. Why”
― Oscar Wilde, Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man