Ten quotes from Oscar Wilde on the 120th anniversary of his death

Celebrating the wit and wisdom of the Irish literary icon with well-loved quips from his writings and correspondence

Oscar Wilde: a beloved intellect, wit and writer.  Pic: PA Photos.

Monday marks a milestone in the legacy of author, poet, dramatist, journalist, public intellect and proto-celebrity Oscar Wilde: November 30, 2020 marks the 120th anniversary of the Irish literary icon's passing.

Beloved for a body of work as wide-ranging as it was articulate and wittily-realised, from classic novels like The Picture of Dorian Gray, to plays like The Importance of Being Earnest, the Dublin-born writer's gift for turns of phrase has endured, and ensured his place in the wider canon, to say nothing of the social exploits that fuelled much of his living notoriety.

It's difficult to try to distill Wilde's words down to an easy list for quick digestion, and even quotes from the man himself are a rabbit-hole before their context, but here's an earnest effort: a selection of well-known and lesser-appreciated remarks, witticisms and observations of one of Ireland's best-loved cultural figures. 

Portrait of Irish-born author and critic Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) wearing a fur stole and holding a cane and gloves. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On the virtues of not quite fitting in:

Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be misunderstood.

- Letter to James McNeill Whistler, 23 February 1885

On fashion, and fleeting passions:

And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

- The Philosophy of Dress, The New-York Tribune, 1885

For the day that's in it:

Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.

- A New Calendar, The Pall Mall Gazette, February 17, 1887

On art, for art's sake:

Art finds her own perfection within, and not outside of herself. She is not to be judged by any external standard of resemblance. She is a veil, rather than a mirror.

- Intentions, 1891

24/04/08 Plaque on the wall of the house where Oscar Wilde lived in Dublin on Merrion Square. Pic: BILLY HIGGINS STAFF

On forebearance and good behaviour:

I can resist everything except temptation.

- Lord Darlington, Act I, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892

On settling into marriage, and the 'spark' of love:

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.

- Algernon, Act I, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

On giving and taking advice:

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

- Lord Goring, Act I, An Ideal Husband, 1895

On the self, and the nature of life:

When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

- De Profundis, 1897

On the folly of regret:

And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats, none knew so well as I; for he who lives more lives than one, more deaths than one must die.

- The Ballad of Reading Gaol, 1898

Words to take along the road:

Be happy, be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty.

- The Nightingale and the Rose, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, 1888