So I've noticed like a bajillion people have Oscar Wilde quotes for their signatures(including me!) and was wondering why people like him so much. I personally love "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and his poems. And I kinda love that he got thrown in jail for essentially being gay. Er, I don't love that he was thrown in jail(although I think his ballad of Reading Gaol is very impressive), but I like the fact that he was gay and didn't try to ignore that side of his personality, even though it eventually ended with Wilde in jail. So what does everyone else love about him? What's your favorite work of his? Favorite character? Favorite poem? Best quote?
A famous quote atributed to Oscar Wilde is that, when he was asked by a customs officer in New York if he had anything to declare, he answered "I have nothing to declare except my genius".
Some quotes I've liked that are attributed to Oscar Wilde: "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best." (I think I remember a UK audio importer specializing in really expensive audio equipment using this quote.) "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." ---------- Post added 13th Mar 2013 at 01:01 AM ---------- One that I liked years back is this one. I don't mean it as an attack on women, but it reflected my cynicism about a family situation at that time: "Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."
He was a prolific writer and gay. Therefore it is not shocking that his work is quoted in signatures on a gay chat site.
Oscar Wilde is by far one of my favorites. I fell in love with his writing in college when I took a course entirely dedicated to him. I think one of my favorite works by him has to be, "The Importance of Being Earnest." How can you beat the line, “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” :lol:
He was just such an inspiration! An openly gay man in the 1800s!! If thats not enough to love him for I don't know what is!
He's a very good writer and he found his niche in the literature world, simple as that. That's all it takes, really. And yes, probably his sexuality has something significant to do with why he's so widely quoted on this particular site, but even off of this site I've found he's rather popular with others. He's not necessarily one of my top 10 favorite writers, I'd say, but he's definitely in the top 20 or so. I remember when I first read him a long time ago, I instantly was engaged and intrigued by his style - back then, it wasn't something I'd become familiar with yet. I also loved how purposely tongue-in-cheek, yet still very clever and wise much of it was. And if you know your stuff, or even if you don't, I find you can almost always pick out Oscar's writing and know it's him out of a bunch of others.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s (*hug*)
I love Oscar Wilde! He's my second favorite author after J.D. Salinger. The Picture of Dorian Gray is amazing, and I have his complete collection of short stories and some of his plays. I've read a handful of his plays and a number of the short stories, and I just love his style and language and wit. He's totally underrated, and especially as I am a Literature major, I'm sad that he doesn't receive more attention. We never get to study him in school. ---------- Post added 15th Mar 2013 at 05:32 PM ---------- Wow, lucky you! I was just saying how I never got to study him in school. His name never even comes up! And you got to take an entire course dedicated to him?! I'm jealous! I would take that in a heartbeat.
