Happy Birthday to...

Oscar Wilde!

I remember when I discovered Oscar Wilde. My friend Charlotte, whom I've written about several times, had a small book of his fairy tales. I couldn't have been more than ten years old when I read The Happy Prince for the first time. I sobbed at the end. I still sob. When my husband read it, he sobbed. It is so beautiful, so touching.

I was hooked. I read all the stories. I still reread them from time to time. The Nightingale and the Rose, The Remarkable Rocket, The Selfish Giant, The Young King, the Fisherman and His Soul, The Star-Child. There are many other stories, which you can check out HERE.



In high school I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, his only novel, and wondered if he would have written other novels had he lived longer. I didn't know about or understand what happened to him due to his sexual orientation, until I was much older. It is sad that barely a month after turning 46, heart broken, beaten down, and destitute, he died of cerebral meningitis in Paris.

"Tomb of Oscar Wilde, Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris, France"
 by Agateller - Via Wikipedia.

Because is he so very quotable, here are 12 quotes.

1. A poet can survive everything but a misprint.

2. Arguments are to be avoided, they are always vulgar and often convincing.

3. Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.

4. I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.

5. In war the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the poor.

6. Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

7. Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

8. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

9. I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.

10. Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

11. I can resist anything except temptation.

12. With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?

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Do you have a favorite Oscar Wilde quote? A favorite story? Favorite play? Of these quotes, I'm rather partial to #5 and #12. The Happy Prince and The Picture of Dorian Gray will always be my favorite stories. The Importance of Being Ernest is my favorite play.