Wildean Wisdom...and Idiocy

Oscar Wilde was an excellent companion during my trip back from Maine two days ago. Here are some more quotes for the ages.

From An Ideal Husband:

...when the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.

I am always saying what I shouldn't say. In fact, I usually say what I think. A great mistake nowadays. It makes one so liable to be misunderstood.

Well, she wore far too much rouge last night, and not enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.

All I do know is that life cannot be understood without much charity, cannot be lived without much charity. It is love, and not German philosophy, that is the true explanation of this world, whatever may be the explanation of the next.

Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear. Just as vulgarity is simply the conduct of other people. And falsehoods the truths of other people. Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself. To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

From The Importance of Being Earnest:

In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.

However, the following lines in An Ideal Husband--the first was spoken not once, but TWICE-- made me groan aloud:

A man's life is of more value than a woman's. It has larger issues, wider scope, greater ambitions. A woman's life revolves in curves of emotions. It is upon lines of intellect that a man's life progresses....A woman who can keep a man's love, and love him in return, has done all the world wants of women, or should want of them.