"One Liners" by Oscar Wilde

[bear60]

 A sample:
 A selection of Oscar Wilde quotations to get you started:

-My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's.
-The English country gentleman galloping after a fox : The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.
--Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.
-We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
-There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.
-But what is the difference between literature and journalism?
Journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.  That is all.
-America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
-Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
-It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
-Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing.
-Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
-Who, being loved, is poor?
-I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
 
New Oscar Wilde Quote
After being lost for over 120 years, this Oscar Wilde quote turned up in the cover of an old book:
'One can exist without art, but one cannot live without it.'

 Oscar Wilde's Wit
From the above quotes, clearly Oscar Wilde was not a stand-up comedian.  Instead of jokes, what you find amongst Oscar Wilde quotes are witty one liners and repartee, for example:

A pompous speaker who had a great opinion of himself gave a long after-dinner speech.  He then made the mistake of turning to his neighbour on the top table, who happened to be Oscar Wilde, and asked, 'How would you have delivered that speech?'  Under an assumed name', came the reply from Oscar Wilde.

What surprises Will and Guy is when we track down a witticism, I find that the source was an Oscar Wilde quotation, or a character in one of his plays.  For example:

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
or
One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.

more at: http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/comedians/comedian_oscar_wilde.htm

[anniebc]

I am not young enough to know everything...Oscar Wilde

I remember a reading a passage in a book about Oscar Wilde:

" Oscar Wilde had asked a prominant head of state (can't remeber who) if he would attend the opening night of his play "The importance of being Ernest" the head of state, who didn't particulaly Iike Qscar Wilde replied "I'm busy that night, but will come to the second night..if you have one"

Oscar Wilde replied " That's wonderful, and please bring a friend..if you have one"..apparently his cheek did not go down well in the circles of the elite.

I have always thought Oscar Wilde was a wonderful and very witty Character.

Hugs
Jan

[Mouse]

Don't get me started. Even though he's been dead for 107 years I totally have a crush on him.

[Andy Velez]

When I visited his grave at Pere Lachese in Paris, I put an ACT UP silence = death sticker on it. And took a photo alongside the Jacob Epstein statue that stands over the grave, of a friend holding an Eartha Kitt disco lp, WHERE IS MY MAN, which he found in a flea market earlier that day.

A few years later I remembered that when Ms. Eartha and I were on the way to see a Wilde play here in NY.  (She's a fan and did his SALOME in a pioneering production on tv in the 50s.) Told her about it and her comment was a succinct, "Sounds appropriate."

Oscar Wilde, long may he wave!

[Jody]

-I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

The one-liners were all wonderful and I loved that one in particular.  Too bad we can't bring back Oscar Wilde !!!

Jody