Favourites on Friday - Oscar Wilde quotes

I love Wilde's stories and quotes, admire his way with words ... though I don't think I'd ever have been brave enough to engage him in conversation.

I must decline your invitation owing to a subsequent invitation.

Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot. ~ ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ 1891

It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.  People are either charming or tedious.

One should never make one’s entrance with a scandal.  One should reserve that to give an interest to one’s old age. ~ ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’

I can resist everything except temptation.

I have nothing to declare except my genius.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Fashion is what one wears oneself.  What is unfashionable is what other people wear. ~ ‘An Ideal Husband’ 1895

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox – the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

(And my particular favourite ...)

Don’t you realise that missionaries are the divinely provided food for destitute and underfed cannibals?  Whenever they are on the brink of starvation, Heaven in its infinite mercy sends them a nice plump missionary.