In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin.
Oscar WildeEvery one of course represents the spirit of his age, but there is an eternal aspect of the Spirit of every age which may be caught. To recreate the past from the mutilated fragments of the present is the task of the Historian.
Oscar WildeAnybody can write a three-volume novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature.
Oscar WildeThat is what the highest criticism really is, the record of one's own soul. It is more fascinating than history, as it is concerned simply with oneself. It is more delightful than philosophy, as its subject is concrete and not abstract, real and not vague. It is the only civilized form of autobiography.
Oscar Wilde