8 Quotes by Oscar Wilde about society


  • Author Oscar Wilde
  • Quote

    In old days men had the rack. Now they have the Press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralizing. Somebody — was it Burke? — called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism.

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  • Author Oscar Wilde
  • Quote

    Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef.

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  • Author Oscar Wilde
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    Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everybody in good society holds exactly the same opinions.

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  • Author Oscar Wilde
  • Quote

    A strange pity came over him. Were these children of sin and misery predestined to their ends, as he to his? Were they, like him, merely the puppets of a monstrous show?

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  • Author Oscar Wilde
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    Only people who look dull ever get into the House of Commons, and only people who are dull ever succeed there.

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