I was in a mood for some of Wilde's epigrams and observations and plucked a few that I liked from Wikipedia. I know that my dear readers do not approve of me having outsourced content landing on my blog. But from time to time, I feel that like posting pictures and youtube videos, it serves a purpose and it's often easier than being original. Many of these, I did or do know by heart. But some, I'd never seen. Then there are a few I inserted from memory that were not in Wiki.
Let's start with this, I think it's an appropriate intro. (It's not an epigram. Probably a fragment from a short story). "Over the piano was printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best." :).
Here's the day's batch. Not in any order nor categorized (nor in quotes):
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
No proper gentleman ever has the slightest idea what the balance of his bank account is.
Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.
We are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously.
As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
I can resist everything except temptation.
Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.
Those whom the gods love grow young.
Youth is wasted on the young.
To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
Kelvil: May I ask, Lord Illingworth, if you regard the House of Lords as a better institution than the House of Commons?
Lord Illingworth: A much better institution of course. We in the House of Lords are never in touch with public opinion. That makes us a civilised body.
I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
The only thing that one can believe is the incredible.
If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by always being immensely over-educated.
I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.
Lord Goring, Act I
Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear.
Lord Goring, Act III
The only possible society is oneself.
Lord Goring, Act III
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Lord Goring, Act III
Lord Robert: Ms. Cheveley, how do you manage to look so young all of the time?
Ms. Chevely: By making it a rule to only surround myself with charming people like you.
Lord Robert: May I introduce to you my dearest friend, Lord Goring. The idlest man in London.
[Note: I have asked a few friends of mine to introduce me in such a manner to new people. I believe that, for me, it's the most complimentary salutation and introduction befitting a dandy.]
[Note2: Once I was hanging out with my then friend and supremest dandy, Ike Ude, publisher of aRude: Index of Style magazine, an artist, an aesthete, etc. on Sunday, all day, talking fashion, philosophy, science, and the arts (we're quite well read), and he got a phone call around 10pm by some woman who asked him, what he's been upto all day. He said, "Something quite radical my dear. Absolutely nothing." I smiled. Then I remembered one of Wildes quotes (not listed above.) "It takes character to endure the rigours of indolence" and another, "Industry is ugly."]
I feel that people are too scheduled and busy these days and have become drones and automatons. Simply put, less butterflies and too many bees and worker ants in God's good garden. It's a bit disheartening. Albeit, I must admit that there is value to industry, discipline, focus, and results. But effort should be deployed to proper ends: income (from a profession that one finds joy or bliss in or a talent that can be monetized), adventure (new places, people, experiences), and self-cultivation (of the mind, body, and soul).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
One hopes that your blog-readers have had the experience of knowing these "bleeding chunks" of Wilde in their rightful contexts. Pulled from Wikipedia lists and glommed together like this, they seem a bit snooty, empty, and repetitive -- which they are not.
In many cases, Wilde did not mean them to be taken literally, but as biting satires of the speakers. Shakespeare took pains to make Polonius a "bloviating" hypocritical bore -- but many of of his most tedious lines are often quoted as if seriously intended. e.g. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," or "To thine own self be true . . ." We almost never see Polonius taking his own advice. He is confused and stupid, an almost total fake. Most of these "Wilde" lines from Wikipedia are in a similar category. With few exceptions, Wilde would never have said them in his own voice.
Well, I hope that they do. Most to all of these epigrams are indeed all contextual and are snippets from his plays and writing and indeed they are said by characters within its own narrative (particular situation and vantage points) and often times are descriptive of what the character observes vs. a presription or spiritual guidance.
Post a Comment