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.

4.5 STARS

Good, small, collection of Wilde's wits. Much lighter than my other 1200+ pages of Wilde collection.

I do believe what Wilde said about him being so cleaver than he didn't understand himself most of the time either, LOL!

Wise before his time- some of his insights are just perfect.

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

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.
…

A must-read for all Oscar Wilde fans.

Reveals not only the wittiness of Oscar Wilde but the deep humanity underlying that wit--his wisdom.

Hilarious even though some are very misogynous comments

Oscar Wilde was an incredibly witty individual and this is a great collection of his sayings and witticisms. I don't know if it really gives us a great view of his character. Quite often he contradicts himself in these sayings and it's clear that he was striving for an effect. Many of the sayings probably can't be completely understood outside of the context in which he spoke them. One theme that runs through the collection is Wilde's stated service to "style" in everything he did.

Wilde is always amusing. Lots of out-of-context, lots of stuff by characters in his novels, which, obviously, don't necessarily portray the author's PoV.

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