Oscar Wilde

It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to be good than to be ugly.

In designing the scenery and costumes for any of Shakespeare's plays, the first thing the artist has to settle is the best date for the drama. This should be determined by the general spirit of the play more than by any actual historical references which may occur in it.

Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.

Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed.

I see when men love women. They give them but a little of their lives. But women when they love give everything.

Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes.

Women are made to be loved, not understood.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.

I want my food dead. Not sick, not dying, dead.

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Some cause happiness wherever they go others whenever they go.

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music people don't talk.

Biography lends to death a new terror.

Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.