The public has always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their own stupidity.

If people are dishonest once, they will be dishonest a second time. And honest people should keep away from them. (Lady Chiltern)

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

There is more to be said for stupidity than people imagine. Personally I have a great admiration for stupidity. It is a sort of fellow-feeling, I suppose.

Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.

We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.

It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to be good than to be ugly.