Oscar Quotes & Sayings

Whenever life sucks, remember you're going to die someday. — Oscar Wilde

I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china. — Oscar Wilde

Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. — Oscar Wilde

An egg is always an adventure; it may be different each time — Oscar Wilde

God wants to save us in a people. He does not want to save us in isolation. And so today's church more than ever is accentuating the idea of being a people. The church therefore experiences conflicts, because it does not want a mass; it wants a people. A mass is a heap of persons, the drowsier the better, the more compliant the better. The church rejects communism's slander that it is the opium of the people. It has no intention of being the people's opium. Those that create drowsy masses are others. The church wants to rouse men and women to the true meaning of being a people. What is a people? A people is a community of persons where all cooperate for the common good. — Oscar A. Romero

Always! That is a dreadful word. It makes me shudder when I hear it. Women are so fond of using it. They spoil every romance by trying to make it last forever. It is a meaningless word, too. The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer. — Oscar Wilde

We have to distinguish between a man as he is in essence, and as he is in ego or personality. In essence, every person is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the person between head, heart, and stomach or between the person and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, karma accumulates, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity; man falls from essence into personality. — Oscar Ichazo

One of the greatest tasks of my life has been to teach the colored man he can be anything. — Oscar Micheaux

Surely Love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merchants, for can it be weighed out in the balance for gold. — Oscar Wilde

You used to stir my imagination. Now you don't even stir my curiosity. — Oscar Wilde

The liar at any rate recognizes that recreation, not instruction, is the aim of conversation, and is a far more civilized being than the blockhead who loudly expresses his disbelief in a story which is told simply for the amusement of the company. — Oscar Wilde

The possibility of an Oscar is something I definitely think about and the fact that I can even say that is just a blessing. It's something I would be incredibly honored to be a part of. — Common

I remember, growing up, if something big - God forbid - happened, the first jokes you heard on the subject came out of Jersey. — Oscar Nunez

I carried my Oscar to bed with me. My first and only three-way happened that night. — Halle Berry

The post on her left was occupied by Mr. Erskine of Treadley, an old gentleman of considerable charm and culture, who had fallen, however, into bad habits of silence, having, as he explained once to Lady Agatha, said everything that he had to say before he was thirty. — Oscar Wilde

When men give up saying what is charming," Oscar answered, "they give up thinking what is charming. I hope I'll never do that. — Gyles Brandreth

Lord Henry: to define is to limit. — Oscar Wilde

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. — Oscar Wilde

Gradually the events of the preceding night crept with silent, blood-stained feet into his brain and reconstructed themselves there with terrible distinctness. He winced at the memory of all that he had suffered, and for a moment the same curious feeling of loathing for Basil Hallward that had made him kill him as he sat in the chair came back to him, and he grew cold with passion. The dead man was still sitting there, too, and in the sunlight now. How horrible that was! Such hideous things were for the darkness, not for the day. — Oscar Wilde

The vulgar directness of the question called for a direct answer. — Oscar Wilde

Pleasures may turn a heart to stone, riches may make it callous, but sorrows cannot break it. Hearts live by being wounded. — Oscar Wilde

Memory ... is the diary that we all carry about with us. — Oscar Wilde

The only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die. We always think we are going to live forever. The dying aspect we will never accept. The one thing about having this kind of warning is how you appreciate every single day of life. — Oscar De La Renta

I know a flower that grows in the valley, none knows it but I. It has purple leaves, and a star in its heart, and its juice is as white as milk. Should'st thou touch with this flower the hard lips of the Queen, she would follow thee all over the world. Out of the bed of the King she would rise, and over the whole world she would follow thee. And it has a price, pretty boy, it has a price. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? I can pound a toad in a mortar, and make broth of it, and stir the broth with a dead man's hand. Sprinkle it on thine enemy while he sleeps, and he will turn into a black viper, and his own mother will slay him. With a wheel I can draw the Moon from heaven, and in a crystal I can show thee Death. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? Tell me thy desire, and I will give it thee, and thou shalt pay me a price, pretty boy, thou shalt pay me a price. — Oscar Wilde

Political life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. — Oscar Wilde

But when it became an international hoopla where careers lived and died on whether or not you did or didn't get an Oscar, then it got out of hand. — George C. Scott

There is a difference between the typical politician and the statesman. A typical politician is that person who tells people what people want to hear, while the statesman tells people what people need to know. — Oscar Arias

The face of the enemy frightens me only when I see how much it resembles me — Oscar Wilde

Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight For the greatest tragedy of them all Is never to feel the burning light. — Oscar Wilde

If you can find a way that your principles are actually the strategically smartest thing to do, you've kind of figured it out. — Oscar Isaac

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN: ... But may I ask, at heart, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Those seem to be the only two fashionable religions left to us nowadays.
MRS CHEVELEY: Oh, I'm neither. Optimism begins in a broad grin, and Pessimism ends with blue spectacles. Besides, they are both of them merely poses.
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN: You prefer to be natural?
MRS CHEVELEY: Sometimes. But it is such a very difficult pose to keep up.
(Act I., lines 132-140) — Oscar Wilde

One is sure to be disappointed if one tries to get romance out of modern life. — Oscar Wilde

Flowers are as common in the country as people are in London. — Oscar Wilde

People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self. Of course, they are charitable. They feed the hungry and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion - these are the two things that govern us. And yet - — Oscar Wilde

First I brush my teeth and then I sharpen my tongue. — Oscar Levant

I have had lots of friends who've been affected by Aids and a very good friend of mine, Oscar Moore, died of Aids and I was with him in his last year quite a bit. And of course he was a man living in a very rich culture with a wealthy family who was able to afford health care. — Emma Thompson

I would give my soul for that! — Oscar Wilde

Things said by political parties are different from the decisions of the government which are taken to uphold the rule of law. The government takes decisions that are best for the country. — Oscar Fernandes

I must say to myself that I ruined myself, and that nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand. I am quite ready to say so ... Terrible as was what the world did to me, what I did to myself was far more terrible still. — Oscar Wilde

In literature mere egotism is delightful. — Oscar Wilde

What of Art?' she asked
'It is a malody.'
'Love?'
'Illusion'
'Religion?'
'A fashionable substitute for belief.'
'What are you?'
'To define is to limit — Oscar Wilde

As for borrowing Mr. Whistler's ideas about art, the only thoroughly original ideas I have heard him express have had reference to his own superiority as a painter over painters greater than himself. — Oscar Wilde

If we're always guided by other people's thoughts, what's the point in having our own? — Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde always makes me smile - with respect and admiration. His short stories prove that it is possible to be both sarcastic, even cynical, but deeply compassionate. Just seeing the cover of one of Wilde's books in a bookshop makes me smile. — Orhan Pamuk

As a professional athlete and someone who has spent almost his entire life in boxing, not a day goes by when I don't think about coming back, but I am retired, and after speaking to my family and following a great deal of introspection, I have decided to stay retired. — Oscar De La Hoya

In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years — Oscar Wilde

Something of a load to carry, sir," gasped the little man when they reached the top landing. And he wiped his shiny forehead. "I am afraid it is rather heavy," murmured Dorian as he unlocked the door that opened into the room that was to keep for him the curious secret of his life and hide his soul from the eyes of men. — Oscar Wilde

You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have. — Oscar Pistorius

I like freedom. I wake up in the morning and say, 'I don't know, should I have a popsicle or a donut?' You know, who knows? — Oscar Nunez

The very violence of a revolution may make the public grand and splendid for a moment. It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes. Behind the barricade there may be much that is noble and heroic. But what is there behind the leading-article but prejudice, stupidity, cant and twaddle? — Oscar Wilde

To become a spectator of one's own life is to escape the suffering of life. — Oscar Wilde

America has never quite forgiven Europe for having been discovered somewhat earlier in history than itself. — Oscar Wilde

And let me touch those curving claws of yellow ivory; and grasp the tail that like a monstrous asp coils round your heavy velvet paws. — Oscar Wilde

The only form of fiction in which real characters do not seem out of place is history. In novels they are detestable. — Oscar Wilde

I have no regard for that kind of ceremony. I just don't think they know what they're doing. When you see who wins those things-or who doesn't win them-you can see how meaningless this Oscar thing is. — Woody Allen

As happens with people who love a thing too much, it destroys them.
Oscar Wilde said, 'You destroy the thing that you love.' It's the other way around. What you love destroys you. — George Plimpton

Do you really keep a diary? I'd give anything to look at it. May I?
Oh, no. You see, it is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy. — Oscar Wilde

Extravagance is the luxury of the poor; penury is the luxury of the rich. — Oscar Wilde

When I won the Oscar, there was something telling me 'this isn't the truth'. I had to get back to real work. — Juliette Binoche

And Beauty is a form of Genius - is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. — Oscar Wilde

You look at today, it's a different situation. You have a game that has been transformed into a game where almost every shot is either an outside shot - a three-point shot - or a dunk. — Oscar Robertson

Describe us as a sex," was her challenge.
"Sphinxes without secrets. — Oscar Wilde

I talk so trivially about life because I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. — Oscar Wilde

When you have a large space to conquer, the curve is the natural solution. — Oscar Niemeyer

Look at the parts the Oscar-nominated actresses played this year: hooker, hooker, hooker, hooker, and nun. — Nora Ephron

Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones. — Oscar Wilde

Love is not fashionable anymore; the poets have killed it. — Oscar Wilde

I really don't think that the Oscar changed my career much because I didn't want it to. — Juliette Binoche

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it — Oscar Wilde

We should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality. — Oscar Wilde

Most Oscar parties are pretty silly. They're really for people who like to schmooze. — Daryl Hannah

How English you are, Basil! If one puts
forward an idea to a real Englishman, - always a rash
thing to do, - he never dreams of considering whether the
idea is right or wrong. The only thing he considers of any
importance is whether one believes it one's self. Now, the
value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the
sincerity of the man who expresses it. Indeed, the
probabilities are that the more insincere the man is, the more purely intellectual will the idea be, as in that case it
will not be colored by either his wants, his desires, or his
prejudices. However, I don't propose to discuss politics,
sociology, or metaphysics with you. I like persons better
than principles. Tell me more about Dorian Gray. How
often do you see him? — Oscar Wilde

cannot do it," he said, mechanically, as though words could alter things. — Oscar Wilde

I caught malaria, and the medicines caused a hallucination. I dreamt I won an Oscar for acting. I know it sounds stupid, but it was so real, and I just knew then it would happen. — Rebel Wilson

The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. — Oscar Wilde

What are the unreal things, but the passions that once burned one like fire? What are the incredible things, but the things that one has faithfully believed? What are the improbable things? The things that one has done oneself. No, Ernest; life cheats us with shadows, like a puppet- master. We ask it for pleasure. It gives it to us, with bitterness and disappointment in its train. We come across some noble grief that we think will lend the purple dignity of tragedy to our days, but it passes away from us, and things less noble take its place, and on some grey windy dawn, or odorous eve of silence and of silver, we find ourselves looking with callous wonder, or dull heart of stone, at the tress of gold-flecked hair that we had once so wildly worshipped and so madly kissed. — Oscar Wilde

Yes; poor Bunbury is a dreadful invalid.
Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shillyshallying with the question is absurd. — Oscar Wilde

They have been eating muffins. That looks like repentance — Oscar Wilde

Moving pictures have become one of the greatest revitalizing forces in race adjustment. — Oscar Micheaux

What's most interesting about trying to figure out AI is the questions that it forces you to ask about the nature of consciousness. — Oscar Isaac

Ricky Gervais is a genius. — Oscar Nunez

The players have no real self-esteem when it comes to putting the best image out there in a real competitive fashion. — Oscar Robertson

Only people who look dull ever get into the House of Commons, and only people who are dull ever succeed there. — Oscar Wilde

By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. — Oscar Wilde

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

The Noblest form of Affection — Oscar Wilde

I love you every day as if it is Valentine's day. — Debasish Mridha

You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. (Oscar trying to talk his way out of a speeding ticket) — Oscar Levant

My work is not about 'form follows function,' but 'form follows beauty' or, even better, 'form follows feminine.' — Oscar Niemeyer

The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read. — Oscar Wilde

- Oscar Wilde said that we always destroy the thing we love the most. And it is true. The simple possibility of achieving that which we desire causes the soul of the common man to be filled with guilt. He looks around, and sees many others who have not succeeded, and so he thinks he does not deserve it. He forgets everything he overcame, all he suffered, everything he had to renounce in order to come this far. I know many people who, when they are within reach of their Personal Legend, make a series of silly mistakes and do not attain their objective - when it was just one step away. — Paulo Coelho

Kindness is the ability to love someone in such a way that she will remember your kindness for the rest of her life. — Debasish Mridha

Be simple; it is beautiful. Never forget to be kind; it is essential. — Debasish Mridha

fantastic shadows of birds — Oscar Wilde

Im in my mid-30s, Ive won an Oscar, I have four children. You figure out if my deafness has adversely affected my life. — Marlee Matlin

He had uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain untarnished, and the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins; that the painted image might be seared with the lines of suffering and thought, and that he might keep all the delicate bloom and loveliness of his then just conscious boyhood. — Oscar Wilde

The man who says he has exhausted life generally means that life has exhausted him. — Oscar Wilde

My dear boy," said Lord Henry, smiling, "anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there. That is the reason why people who live out of town are so absolutely uncivilized. Civilization is not, by any means, an easy thing to attain to. There are only two ways by which men can reach it. One is by being cultured, the other by being corrupt. Country people have no opportunity of being either, so they stagnate. — Oscar Wilde

I was a boy with one dream and one dream only: I wanted - no, strike that, I was desperate for - a room of my own. You see, in those days I shared a room with my little brother, Jesse, and it wasn't pretty. He was the Oscar to my Felix: messy, careless, and just a little bit sticky - exactly the way a kindergartner is supposed to be. — Nate Berkus

The best revenge is to live well. — Oscar Wilde