我滿喜歡Wilde的誠實不過他的想法有時候有一點無恥、讓我覺得很刺激、可能是因為他面對現實。

Before Oscar Wilde became a literary personality he was known, particularly when at Magdalen College, Oxford, was widely recognised as a conversationalist who could entertain for hours with his witticisms, anecdotes and epigrams. He was always in demand so it is no surprise to find many books containing selections of his views, comments, axioms etc and this is one of them.

Even before his fame he was in great demand as a conversationalist and this book contains any number of witticisms noted 'In Conversation' - good job someone noted them down at the time!! The other sources for the book are lines from his works that he was very adept at encompassing in his writings. Now whether he truly believed in everything he expounded is perhaps uncertain, or did he write these things for the effect he knew the statements would have on readers? Who knows ... only Oscar.

Whatever the answer to that little conundrum is, many of his statements are most entertaining such as in 'An Ideal Husband' with 'Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.' And in conversation he is reported to have said, 'The value of the telephone is what two people have to say.' One can't argue with that!

And he can be quite amusing as in 'The Importance of Being Earnest' when the view was 'I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.' I can't speak from experience but there could be a lot of truth in that statement! And once again in conversation he said, 'Oh, I am so glad you've come. There are a hundred things I want not to say to you.' I wonder if a quiet time followed?!

In 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' it was said, 'I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.' That could make sense once one has established the difference between new and old as far as friendship goes.

There are plenty of such aphorisms in Oscar's life and work and his verbal virtuosity and mental agility to trot them out ensured that they were recorded, one way or another, and can readily be gathered together for readers to enjoy in books such as this one.

Another Ashland pick, mainly with K.Stuckey in mind. Yes, I will now have fantastic Wilde quotes for you.

4.5

I know he could be waspish and strange, but what a spectacular mind he had!

if only i could memorize these bon mots! there's something witty for nearly every occasion in this book.

One of those books you'll treasure.

Wit and Wisdom: A Book of Quotations, by Oscar Wilde

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For 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.”

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

“When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me. Indeed, when I am in really great trouble, as anyone who knows me intimately will tell you, I refuse everything except food and drink. At the present moment I am eating muffins because I am unhappy. Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins.”

“I don’t desire to change anything in England except the weather.”

“I only care to see doctors when I am in perfect health; then they comfort one, but when one is ill they are most depressing.”

“You believe good of everyone, Jane. It is a great fault.”

“It is only about things that do not interest one that one can give a really unbiased opinion, which is, no doubt, the reason why an unbiased opinion is always absolutely valueless. The man who sees both sides of a question is a man who sees absolutely nothing at all.”

“Thinking is the most unhealthy thing in the world, and people die of it just as they die of any other disease. Fortunately, in England at any rate, thought is not catching.”
"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."

Other examples:
Good taste is the excuse I've always given for leading such a bad life.

I am always astonishing myself. It is the only thing that makes life worth living.

Life cannot be written. Life can only be lived.

People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately.

It is absurd to divide people into good or bad. People are either charming or tedious.

I like men who have a future and women who have a past.

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know.

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

He hasn't a single redeeming vice.

I can resist everything except temptation.

Starvation, and not sin, is the parent of modern crime.

It is the confession, not the priest that gives us absolution.

Most religious teachers spend their time trying to prove the unproven by the unprovable.

The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself, because he is absolutely himself.

To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.

No great artist sees things as they really are. If he did he would cease to be an artist.

The only portraits in which one believes are portraits where there is very little of the sitter and a very great deal of the artist.

Only the great masters of style ever succeed in being obscure.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

I hate people who talk about themselves, as you do, when one wants to talk about oneself, as I do.

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.
…

Mycket bra sammanställning av Oscar Wildes kvickheter, sorterad efter ämne. Naturligtvis är det bäst att läsa hans texter i original, kvickheterna i sitt sammanhang, annars blir det lite mastigt och ytligt. Kontext behövs för att fördjupa tankarna. Detta är ändå bra att ha i bokhyllan.

This is a fun little collection for those who have a special place in their hearts for the irreverant and arrogant teachings of Oscar Wilde. In this slim volume is contained the majority (if not all) of his most famous quotes on such subjects as romance, sincerity, science, and even life itself.

Taking a few of these to heart will mean that you can lead a particularly dandy life.

Some of the best quotes ever!

Researching a quote, I stumbled over this one 5 years after first reading it. Wine glass in one hand, book in the other, this had me chuckling way more than during the first read. Had to raise the rating and would like to take a bit more of Mr Wilde's advice and wisdom into everyday life now.