“It was only in the theatre that I lived.”

-Oscar Wilde

Cheerio, my friends!

Perhaps you’re wondering why I’m speaking with an English accent. Good question.

Well.

This past week, in a bit of a state of frenzy and panic, that was induced by something many refer to as “mid-terms”, I began thinking about somebody whom I absolutely adore: Oscar Wilde; specifically, Oscar Wilde and his words of wisdom.

For those of you who may not know this, Oscar Wilde is quite famous for his words of wisdom; he was a playwright and prose-writer well known in nineteenth-century London not only for his writing but for his talking. He has been called one of the great conversationalist in history, and I don’t doubt it for a moment.

I thought it would be fun this week to revisit some of Oscar’s most wise, hilarious, and fabulously theatrical words of wisdom. I know that they always remind me of the possibilities of the world and to live as theatrically as I find necessary. I have compiled them by category so that you can easily find wildely fabulous quotes to support every moment of your theatrical life.

 

Oscar Wilde’s Everyday Tips For A More Theatrical Existence

 

 

Advice

• “I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.”   

 

 

Education

• “If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.”   

 

• “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”   
• “Life is too short to learn German.”   

God

• “I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”

 

 

Life and Living

 

• “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”   
• Life is too important to be taken seriously.”

 

 

 

Love

• “Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.”

 

• “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”   

 

 

 

 

Patience

 

• “The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”   
• “If you are not long, I will wait for you all my life.”   

 

People and Society

 

• “Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.”   
• “Hear no evil, speak no evil, and you won’t be invited to cocktail parties.”   
• “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”          

Reading

• “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”   
• “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”   

 

 

 

 

Revenge

• “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”   

Retweeting

• “Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.”

 

Theatre

 

• “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”

 

• “I love acting. It is so much more real than life.”   

 

• “The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life.”

 

• “It was only in the theatre that I lived.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that these words of wisdom give you hope and courage in your theatrical life. For all his talents, Oscar Wilde perhaps understood best of all the true art of theatricality.

 

 

Thank you for reading, my dear friends! Are you a fan of Oscar Wilde? Who inspires you? Did I miss a Vital and Inexcusable gem? Please let me know in the comments below, it would be absolutely smashing to hear from you!

Love,

Lil🎭

xoxo