Oscar Wilde Quotes 91–120 of 310 Quotes

Below are 30 of 310 sourced Oscar Wilde quotes. Sources and related information appear under each quote. Use the 'Cite this quote' link to get citation references.

“Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to do most good.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Charity creates a multitude of sins.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“It is immoral to use private property in order to alleviate the horrible evils that result from the institution of private property.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Misery and poverty are so absolutely degrading, and exercise such a paralysing effect over the nature of men, that no class is ever really conscious of its own suffering. They have to be told of it by other people, and they often entirely disbelieve them.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community, and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilisation.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“For the recognition of private property has really harmed Individualism, and obscured it, by confusing a man with what he possesses. It has led Individualism entirely astray. It has made gain not growth its aim. So that man thought that the important thing was to have, and did not know that the important thing is to be. The true perfection of man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is. Private property has crushed true Individualism, and set up an Individualism that is false. It has debarred one part of the community from being individual by starving them. It has debarred the other part of the community from being individual by putting them on the wrong road and encumbering them.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

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“With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“The note of the perfect personality is not rebellion, but peace.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“It will be a marvellous thing--the true personality of man--when we see it. It will grow naturally and simply, flowerlike, or as a tree grows. It will not be at discord. It will never argue or dispute. It will not prove things. It will know everything. And yet it will not busy itself about knowledge. It will have wisdom. Its value will not be measured by material things. It will have nothing. And yet it will have everything, and whatever one takes from it, it will still have, so rich will it be. It will not be always meddling with others, or asking them to be like itself. It will love them because they will be different. And yet while it will not meddle with others, it will help all, as a beautiful thing helps us, by being what it is. The personality of man will be very wonderful. It will be as wonderful as the personality of a child.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Don't imagine that your perfection lies in accumulating or possessing external things. Your perfection is inside of you. If only you could realise that, you would not want to be rich. Ordinary riches can be stolen from a man. Real riches cannot. In the treasury-house of your soul, there are infinitely precious things, that may not be taken from you. And so, try to so shape your life that external things will not harm you. And try also to get rid of personal property. It involves sordid preoccupation, endless industry, continual wrong. Personal property hinders Individualism at every step.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“All modes of government are failures. Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. Oligarchies are unjust to the many, and ochlocracies are unjust to the few. High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

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“When private property is abolished there will be no necessity for crime, no demand for it; it will cease to exist.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#21

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#21

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#21

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“The fact is, that civilisation requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#22

Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#22

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#22

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#22

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#23

Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#23

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#23

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#23

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is what he is. It has nothing to do with the fact that other people want what they want. Indeed, the moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or a dishonest tradesman. He has no further claim to be considered as an artist.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#24

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#24

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#24

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. I am inclined to say that it is the only real mode of individualism that the world has known. Crime, which, under certain conditions, may seem to have created individualism, must take cognisance of other people and interfere with them. It belongs to the sphere of action. But alone, without any reference to his neighbours, without any interference, the artist can fashion a beautiful thing; and if he does not do it solely for his own pleasure, he is not an artist at all.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#25

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#25

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#25

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Art is this intense form of individualism that makes the public try to exercise over it an authority that is as immoral as it is ridiculous, and as corrupting as it is contemptible. It is not quite their fault. The public have always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their own stupidity. Now Art should never try to be popular. The public should try to make itself artistic.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#26

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#26

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#26

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“Art is Individualism, and Individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. Therein lies its immense value. For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#27

Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#27

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#27

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#27

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“An individual who has to make things for the use of others, and with reference to their wants and their wishes, does not work with interest, and consequently cannot put into his work what is best in him. Upon the other hand, whenever a community or a powerful section of a community, or a government of any kind, attempts to dictate to the artist what he is to do, Art either entirely vanishes, or becomes stereotyped, or degenerates into a low and ignoble form of craft.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#28

Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#28

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#28

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#28

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

“They are always asking a writer why he does not write like somebody else, or a painter why he does not paint like somebody else, quite oblivious of the fact that if either of them did anything of the kind he would cease to be an artist.”

— Oscar Wilde

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Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#29

Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#29

Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.

Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#29

Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for the humanities, especially language and literature.

Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” Last modified August 4, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html#29

Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891): online text

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Use APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the sciences.

Wilde, Oscar (2021, August 4) Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html

Use Chicago style for business, fine arts, and history.

Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde Quotes: 91–120 of 310 Quotes.” QuotesCosmos.com, edited by QuotesCosmos, 4 August 2021, https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Oscar-Wilde-quotes-4.html

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