Oscar Wilde
1854-1900 | Dublin & London
The prince of paradox who made wit a weapon and beauty a religion. Oscar Wilde conquered Victorian London with his plays, dazzled salons with his conversation, and scandalized the respectable with his novel. He preached that life should imitate art, that sincerity is overrated, and that we are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars. His downfall was spectacular - imprisoned for love, he emerged broken but wrote De Profundis, his meditation on suffering. He died in Paris, penniless but quotable to the end.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- Attributed to Wilde
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
- Lady Windermere's Fan
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
- The Soul of Man Under Socialism
"I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best."
- Attributed to Wilde
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."
- The Picture of Dorian Gray