Oscar Wilde, the witty wordsmith and master of satire, had a view of class and society that gleamed brighter than the shiniest monocle at a high-society ball. Picture a Victorian era where the upper crust dined on fancy delicacies while the rest of society pondered the joys of rationed tea biscuits.
In the midst of this class divide, enter Wilde, armed with his rapier wit, ready to puncture the bubble of Victorian norms.
To Oscar Wilde, the class system was like a stuffy old drawing room with a moth-eaten tapestry, desperately in need of a good laugh. Here are some of his best quotes on class and society.
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There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.
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Each class preaches the importance of those virtues it need not exercise. The rich harp on the value of thrift, the idle grow eloquent over the dignity of labour.
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I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.
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There is no necessity to separate the monarch from the mob; all authority is equally bad.
The world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those who do the improbable.
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The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world.
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Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.
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The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
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A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.
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Why was I born with such contemporaries?
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In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin.
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Everything popular is wrong.
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I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy.
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It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one, behind one’s back, that are absolutely and entirely true.
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One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.
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There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating – people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.
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Jonathan Swift quotes on class and society
