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I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who would call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one.

Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Wilde
Age: 46 †
Born: 1854
Born: October 16
Died: 1900
Died: November 30
Author
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Opinion Journalist
Playwright
Poet
Prosaist
Short Story Writer
Writer
Dublin city
Oscar O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Men
Realism
Vulgar
Compelled
Literature
Call
Use
Hate
Spade
Would
Spades

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I was wrong. God's law is only Love.
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Even now I cannot help feeling that it is a mistake to think that the passion one feels in creation is ever really shown in the work one creates.
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Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realized 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.
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LADY BRACKNELL Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire?
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Because sometimes you have to do something bad to do something good.
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If it is not nailed to the floor, it's mine. If I can pry it loose, it is not nailed down.
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He must have a truly romantic nature, for he weeps when there is nothing at all to weep about.
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The best art is about individualism, free self-expression and realising a unique, imaginative perspective- A true artist takes no notice whatever of the public. The public are to him non-existent.
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When a love comes to an end, weaklings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love, and the wise already have one in reserve.
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Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.
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It is chiefly, I regret to say, through journalism that such people find expression. I regret it because there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
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To be in love is to surpass one's self.
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People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.
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In art, the public accept what has been, because they cannot alter it, not because they appreciate it. They swallow their classics whole, and never taste them.
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Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.
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The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
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[on his deathbed in a Paris hotel room] Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.
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Extravagance is the luxury of the poor penury is the luxury of the rich.
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How does one cure the soul? Through the senses
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My dear Arthur, I never talk scandal. I only talk gossip. What is the difference between scandal and gossip? Oh! Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
Oscar Wilde