One has a right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends.

In the common world of fact the wicked were not punished, nor the good rewarded. Success was given to the strong, failure thrust upon the weak. That was all.

It takes a thoroughly good woman to do a thoroughly stupid thing

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything.

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.

Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?

The nineteenth century is a turning point in history, simply on account of the work of two men, Darwin and Renan, the one the critic of the Book of Nature, the other the critic of the books of God. Not to recognise this is to miss the meaning of one of the most important eras in the progress of the world.