Quote

The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.

Oscar Wilde

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Impossible
Slaves
Almost
Contemplation
Fact
Horrible
Culture
Requires
Facts
Ugly
Become
Slave
Government
Civilization
Work
Unless
Uninteresting

More quotes by Oscar Wilde

Image
The Americans are identical to the British in all respects except, of course, language.
Oscar Wilde
Image
one pale woman all alone, The daylight kissing her wan hair, Loitered beneath the gas lamps' flare, With lips of flame and heart of stone.
Oscar Wilde
Image
No gentleman ever has any money.
Oscar Wilde
Image
I want to be good. I can't bear the idea of my soul being hideous.
Oscar Wilde
Image
What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul.
Oscar Wilde
Image
A mask tells us more than a face.
Oscar Wilde
Image
In spite of the roaring of the young lions at the Union, and the screaming of the rabbits in the home of the vivisect, in spite of Keble College, and the tramways, and the sporting prints, Oxford still remains the most beautiful thing in England, and nowhere else are life and art so exquisitely blended, so perfectly made one.
Oscar Wilde
Image
Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.
Oscar Wilde
Image
Come, dear, [Gwendolen rises] we have already missed five, if not six, trains. To miss any more might expose us to comment on the platform.
Oscar Wilde
Image
Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not.
Oscar Wilde
Image
Intellectual generalities are always interesting, but generalities in morals mean absolutely nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Image
When a man is old enough to do wrong he should be old enough to do right also.
Oscar Wilde
Image
You and I will always be friends. Yet you poisoned me with a book once. I should not forgive that.
Oscar Wilde
Image
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde
Image
A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection.
Oscar Wilde
Image
He must have a truly romantic nature, for he weeps when there is nothing at all to weep about.
Oscar Wilde
Image
The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happy married life.
Oscar Wilde
Image
The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain.
Oscar Wilde
Image
The best way to appreciate your job is to, is here to stay.
Oscar Wilde
Image
Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.
Oscar Wilde