Oscar Wilde is one the giants of Irish literature. He is perhaps as famous for his memorable quotes as he is for his classic works such as The Ballad of Reading Gaol, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Portrait of Dorian Grey.
Wilde saw himself as an artist, and distanced himself as much as possible from critics and journalists for whom he had a general disdain. The quotes below suggest that not much has changed in the relationship between artist and critic in the century or so since Wilde’s death.
These are some of Wilde’s most memorable quotes on his art, and on his views on ‘craftsmen’ journalists.
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Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.
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It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.
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Biography lends to death a new terror.
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By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
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Mr Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty.
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I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
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Its failings notwithstanding, there is much to be said in favour of journalism in that by giving us the opinion of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
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All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.
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If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
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The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands.
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Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
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This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.
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The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.
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