QuotesOscar Wilde quotes
Oscar Wilde (1854 to 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist and wit. A great many clever lines are wrongly credited to him. The ones below can all be found in his plays and his one novel, and each names its source.
Quotations
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)I can resist everything except temptation.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)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)I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance (1893)
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Who says it
Most of Wilde's famous lines are spoken by the idle, clever gentlemen of his plays, who say outrageous things with a straight face. They are jokes with a sting, not advice.
- "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars", "I can resist everything except temptation" and the definition of a cynic are all given to Lord Darlington in Lady Windermere's Fan.
- "Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes" is said by Mr Dumby in the same play.
- "The truth is rarely pure and never simple" is Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest.
- "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness" is the formidable Lady Bracknell, questioning a young man who wants to marry her daughter.
- "I never travel without my diary" is her daughter, Gwendolen.
- The two lines from The Picture of Dorian Gray belong to Lord Henry Wotton, whose charming bad advice leads the hero to ruin. Wilde did not mean them as rules to live by.
Why so many "Wilde" quotes are false
Wilde was so famous for wit that clever remarks have been pinned on him ever since. A real Wilde line can always be traced to a play, an essay, his novel, his poems or a letter. If a quotation site gives no source, be careful. Our page on quotes that were never said lists common examples. His works are in the public domain and searchable online, so checking takes a minute.
Using a Wilde line
They work best as an opening that makes the audience laugh, followed by your own serious point. Say the play. In a formal essay, make it clear that a character is speaking: "As Lord Darlington says in Lady Windermere's Fan". The "gutter and stars" line is the one most often used sincerely, for hope in hard times.
Good to know
- "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken" is often credited to Wilde, but nobody has found it in his works. It is not included here.