“A man who moralizes is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralizes is invariably plain.”
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
“Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic.”
“He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.”
“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”
“When a man has once loved a woman, he will do anything for her, except continue to love her.”
“Vulgarity is the conduct of other people, just as falsehoods are the truths of other people.”
“Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is usually Judas who writes the biography.”
“Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern; one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly.”
“In going to America one learns that poverty is not a necessary accompaniment to civilization.”
“Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attraction of others.”
“The exquisite art of idleness, one of the most important things that any University can teach.”
“They flaunt their conjugal felicity in one's face, as if it were the most fascinating of sins.”
“There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.”
“He must have a truly romantic nature, for he weeps when there is nothing at all to weep about.”
“Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.”
“The value of an idea has nothing whatever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it.”
“I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don't talk politics.”
“One should never trust a woman who tells her real age. If she tells that, she'll tell anything.”
“No, Ernest, don't talk about action. It is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.”
“As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.”
“It is because Humanity has never known where it was going that it has been able to find its way.”
“Popularity is the crown of laurel which the world puts on bad art. Whatever is popular is wrong.”
“Murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner.”
“In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin.”
“The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life.”
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”
“Yes, I am a thorough republican. No other form of government is so favorable to the growth of art.”
“They are horribly tedious when they are good husbands, and abominably conceited when they are not.”
“Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement.”