I never resist large temptations.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to an Unknown Correspondent —1888-9.
42 notes
·
View notes
I am horribly, or delightfully indolent, and really write very little.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to an Unknown Correspondent —1888-9.
12 notes
·
View notes
So you are a rhymer! We all are when we are young.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to Graham Hill —1888.
7 notes
·
View notes
The kitten is quite lovely. […] It seems pensive. Perhaps it is thinking of some dim rose-garden in Persia, and wondering why it is kept in this chill England.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to Robert Ross —Late December, 1888.
29 notes
·
View notes
Beauty of form produces not one effect alone, but many effects. […] The richer the work of art the more diverse are the true interpretations. […] I pity that book on which critics are agreed.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to W. E. Henley —December, 1888.
2 notes
·
View notes
To learn how to write English prose I have studied the prose of France. I am charmed that you recognise it: that shows I have succeeded. I am also charmed that no one else does: that shows I have succeeded also.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to W. E. Henley —December, 1888.
9 notes
·
View notes
Bother space and time! they spoil life by allowing such a thing as distance.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to Richard Le Gallienne —October, 1888.
8 notes
·
View notes
Criticism of contemporary work should always be anonymous.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to Wemyss Reid —25 October, 1888.
7 notes
·
View notes
How the finely woven veil of form reveals in all the arts! I can recognise a whole life in the choice of an adjective.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to Richard Le Gallienne —15 June, 1888.
17 notes
·
View notes
English people are stupid about introductions and it was not till after you had left that I realised who you were.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to an Unknown Correspondent —1888-9.
3 notes
·
View notes
I console myself by trying now and then to put ‘The Universe’ into a sonnet.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to W. Graham Robertson - Early 1888.
11 notes
·
View notes
Poetry should be like a crystal, it should make life more beautiful and less real.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to W. Graham Robertson - Early 1888.
104 notes
·
View notes
I kept looking at the moon, and beseeching her to tell me a story. At last she did.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to W. Graham Robertson - Early 1888.
51 notes
·
View notes
It is strange that the most violent republicans I know are all vegetarians: Brussels sprouts seem to make people bloodthirsty, and those who live on lentils and artichokes are always calling for the gore of the aristocracy, and for the severed heads of kings.
Oscar Wilde, in a letter to Violet Fane - November 12, 1887.
38 notes
·
View notes
I have grown tired of the articulate utterances of men and things.
Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, in a letter later published under the title ‘De Profundis’ - January-March, 1897.
60 notes
·
View notes
For me, to whom flowers are part of desire, there are tears waiting in the petals of some rose.
Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, in a letter later published under the title ‘De Profundis’ - January-March, 1897.
58 notes
·
View notes
It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little.
Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, in a letter later published under the title ‘De Profundis’ - January-March, 1897.
87 notes
·
View notes