Sunday 21 October 2012

Oscar Wilde Appreciation Post

Everyone knows Oscar Wilde and his plays but his little phrases and witty comments are what he is really loved for in the world of literature. He is quoted in books, movies and now also on this blog. I have collected some of my favourite phrases in order to share them with you.

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.

Some cause happiness wherever they go, some whenever they go.

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

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

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.

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Do you like Oscar Wilde and do you have a favourite quote?
Have a great day,
The Countess

4 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm glad you posted this. Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite satirists. I actually prefer his quips to his prose. When reading "The Portrait of Dorian Grey," I found the writing, especially in the first chapter, to be rather off putting because the conversations and descriptions only seemed to be one long chain of witticisms.

    My favorite quote is:

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

    It offers such an interesting perspective on morality.

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    1. Dorian does polarize, some people call it the worst novel ever written while others take it as the holy grale. I think I am probably somewhere in between =D

      The quote you chose is a great one, I think I'll show it to a friend of mine who studies philosophy.

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  2. I love Oscar Wilde- I read most of his plays a few year ago when I had a lot of time to kill at the library. I do find it kind of annoying that a lot of his famous quotes are taken completely out of context, since a clever line in a play might be used to show that character in a more critical light than the sentence alone. I do have some favorites though-

    "America is the only country to have gone from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."

    "The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated."

    and "Only the shallow know themselves."

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    1. You are of course right that many of his quotes have a different meaning than intented when taken out of context but I like many of them for their sentence structure. I have read many of his plays, fairy tales and Dorian Gray because I study English and I have to say I just love the way he arranges words and phrases!

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