Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young

Oscar Wilde


The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible.

What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered.

Wickedness is myth invented by good people to account for the curious attraciveness of others.

If the poor only had profiles there would be no difficulty in solving the problem of poverty.

Those who see any difference between soul and body have neither.

A really well-made buttonhole is the only link between Art and Nature.

Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.

The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

Dullness is the coming of age of seriousness.

In all unimportant matters, style, not sincerity is the essential.

In all important matters, style, not sincerity is the essential.

If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.

Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. Nothing ages like happiness.

It is only by not paying one’s bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.

No crime is vulgar, but all vulgarity is crime. Vulgarity is the conduct of others.

Only the shallow know themselves.

Time is a waste of money.

One should always be a little improbable.

There is a fatality about all good resolutions. They are invariably made too soon.

The only way to atone for being occasionally a little overdressed is by being always absolutely over-educated.

To be premature is to be perfect.

Any preoccupation with ideas of what is right or wrong in conduct shows an arrested intellectual development.

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.

In examinations the foolish ask questions that the wise cannot answer.

Greek dress was in its essence inartistic. Nothing should reveal the body but the body.

One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.

It is only the superficial qualities that last. Man’s deeper nature is soon found out.

Industry is the root of all ugliness.

The ages live in history through their anachronisms.

It is only the gods who taste of death. Apollo has passed away, but Hyacinth, whom men say he slew, lives on.

Nero and Narcissus are always with us.

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

The condition of perfection is idleness; the aim of perfection is youth.

Only the great masters of style ever succeed in being obscure.

There is something tragic about the enormous number of young men there are in England at the present moment who start life with perfect profiles, and end by adopting some useful profession.

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.

---

上回Q君忘记给我带Wilde的作品，实在让我伤心了一把。事实上她是有记得带，但是回来上海找不见了，这更是让我伤心。
当然更伤心的是偶像大人都死了一百多年了，如果我们活在同一时代，那该多好……
最近在看《De Profundis》，可怜我因为实在没空看书，基本都是在公交车上看的。这些是书中所收录偶像大人在法庭上的反唇相讥，一定程度上反应了偶像大人的生活哲学。
花了些时间来抄写，不知道这样是不是能够距离彼此的灵魂更近一些。
那些句子，还是有无法理解的部分，我又深怕中文的翻译会曲解其中的意思，于是还是以原貌的英文记录。
最后那句很喜欢的：To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
爱自己便是一部终生罗曼史的开始。

说得对，古往今来，多少才子拥有更甚于他的才情，然而对我而言，没有一个人比他更有魅力。
叫我如何能不爱你……

无论如何，今生要去一次巴黎的王尔?墓。