What do you think?
Rate this book
Nothing ... Except My Genius
Oscar Wilde, now the subject of a major feature film starring Stephen Fry, declared to Andre Gide that 'I have put my genius into my life, all I have put into my works is my talents'. He was a virtuosic conversationalist and today we associate his witticisms, epigrams and shart repartee with Wilde the dramatist, for it is here in particular that he is seen lampooning the starchy morality of Victorian society.
This new selection drawn from Wilde's stories, novels, plays, features, reviews and letters provides an invaluable introduction and reference to Wilde the artist and the man. The full extent of his wit is on display here, together with the serious, reflective and often melancholy side to his character so eloquently expressed in 'De Profundis' and 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'.
This new selection drawn from Wilde's stories, novels, plays, features, reviews and letters provides an invaluable introduction and reference to Wilde the artist and the man. The full extent of his wit is on display here, together with the serious, reflective and often melancholy side to his character so eloquently expressed in 'De Profundis' and 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'.
108 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1997
17 people are currently reading
509 people want to read
About the author
Oscar Wilde
5,622 books39.1k followersOscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
July 13, 2017
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”
“You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”
“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.”
“I can resist anything except temptation.”
NO REGRETS
OSCAR WILDE IS THE BEST FOREVER AND EVER AMEN
JUST PICK THIS UP IT'S LIKE FIFTY PAGES
YOU'LL FALL IN LOVE
HE WAS A SAVAGE
DEAL WITH IT
“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”
“You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”
“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.”
“I can resist anything except temptation.”
NO REGRETS
OSCAR WILDE IS THE BEST FOREVER AND EVER AMEN
JUST PICK THIS UP IT'S LIKE FIFTY PAGES
YOU'LL FALL IN LOVE
HE WAS A SAVAGE
DEAL WITH IT
Read
February 1, 2021whiplash in book form. i've never gone so quickly between strongly agreeing with one line and disagreeing with the next in my life
July 9, 2021
4.5 stars.
"I think a man should invent his own myth."
This is just a tiny collection of some of Wilde's quotes about... well, everything really.
I don't have much to say, I adore Oscar Wilde and his phenomenal writing.
If you want to start reading Wilde, this is a great place to start.
"I think a man should invent his own myth."
This is just a tiny collection of some of Wilde's quotes about... well, everything really.
I don't have much to say, I adore Oscar Wilde and his phenomenal writing.
If you want to start reading Wilde, this is a great place to start.
February 22, 2024
Literally the realest book ever written
March 15, 2024
4/5 ⭐️
mais um para a tese. eu amo um homem.
mais um para a tese. eu amo um homem.
February 18, 2017
I would only recommend this if you're considering reading a book by Wilde, but you're not sure. This book is a decent way to determine whether or not you'll like his other works.
December 2, 2022
this man>>
April 20, 2021
I found myself in agreement, then suddenly in complete opposition to his ideas. Many of these ideas came off as rather snobbish in relation to art, which I find myself unable to overlook.
August 18, 2016
Ο τίτλος τα λέει όλα. Καταπληκτικές σκέψεις, πανέξυπνες φράσεις, απαράμιλλο χιούμορ. Δεν έχω να δηλώσω τίποτα, παρά μόνο "γοητευμένος".
May 10, 2020
Θα ήταν άδικο να περιμένεις από τους άλλους να είναι τόσο ξεχωριστοί όσο εσύ..
August 17, 2024
Call it what it is. A toilet book!
May 7, 2022
i agree with a lot of reviews; a lot of lines and quotes i wholeheartedly agree with and others i completely disagree with. so much whiplash.
June 9, 2012
The book is well worth its five-star rating if for nothing else than the lengthy introduction entitled 'Playing Oscar' by Stephen Fry!
Fry tells us that he has not known a time in his life when he was not aware of Oscar Wilde (my daughter could probably empathise with him for when young she would listen to 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde' - the book I was then reading - when she was going to sleep as I decided it was the sound of my voice rather than the story content that lulled her to sleep!) and he writes historically of the great man and also of his role in the film.
One interesting story from the making of the film was when he was approached by a man in Hyde Park during a break in filming who asked him what was going on. When he answered that they were filming a movie of the life of Oscar Wilde, the chap declared 'I have a record of him singing live.' Fry queried this only to be told, 'Yes, at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas. The best version of "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" you could ever hear.' Would it be Coward or Wilde who was flattered?
The main body of the book contains the usual quotes, quips and maxims that Oscar trotted out with quite a few unusual ones present. Whatever they are and however often they have been heard or read, it is never a drudge to read what Oscar had to say because he was always entertaining and always, as he said, 'put my genius into my life' ... don't we all?
Fry tells us that he has not known a time in his life when he was not aware of Oscar Wilde (my daughter could probably empathise with him for when young she would listen to 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde' - the book I was then reading - when she was going to sleep as I decided it was the sound of my voice rather than the story content that lulled her to sleep!) and he writes historically of the great man and also of his role in the film.
One interesting story from the making of the film was when he was approached by a man in Hyde Park during a break in filming who asked him what was going on. When he answered that they were filming a movie of the life of Oscar Wilde, the chap declared 'I have a record of him singing live.' Fry queried this only to be told, 'Yes, at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas. The best version of "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" you could ever hear.' Would it be Coward or Wilde who was flattered?
The main body of the book contains the usual quotes, quips and maxims that Oscar trotted out with quite a few unusual ones present. Whatever they are and however often they have been heard or read, it is never a drudge to read what Oscar had to say because he was always entertaining and always, as he said, 'put my genius into my life' ... don't we all?
February 28, 2010
Oscar, wat heb je toch een wicked sense of humor. Altijd fijn om te herlezen op een zondagochtend. Nu verder met een andere favoriet:
Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our intellects.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our intellects.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
August 10, 2019
Interesting little book with a good introduction by Stephen Fry (who played Oscar Wilde, with Jade Law as Boise).
However, much a book of quotes and it is sometimes difficult to understand them in their entirety without knowledge of the source they allude to.
However worth reading.
However, much a book of quotes and it is sometimes difficult to understand them in their entirety without knowledge of the source they allude to.
However worth reading.
June 22, 2012
A book I carry with me always. Nothing but genius.
July 25, 2021
Ένας γρήγορος και εύστοχος τρόπος για την κατανόηση των αντιλήψεων και πεποιθήσεων του Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ.
June 18, 2022
3/10 1%. I managed to find a few memorable quotes in this stinker of a book - I’m obviously not educated enough to understand or appreciate it - it has however made me adore my 57 Wodehouse books(from a similar period) all the more. Won’t read Wilde again. The quotes I liked, some abridged were-
Time is waste of money
The secret of life is Art
Nothing is worth doing except what the world says is impossible
It is better to have a permanent income than be fascinating
Experience….the name given to mistakes
With the abolition of private property….. nobody will waste their life on accumulating things.
One should always be a little improbable
You can atone being slightly overdressed by being over educated
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure
The old believe everything, the middle aged suspect everything and the young know everything
Never give a woman anything she can’t wear in the evening
The basis of character is will power
All great ideas are dangerous
Time is waste of money
The secret of life is Art
Nothing is worth doing except what the world says is impossible
It is better to have a permanent income than be fascinating
Experience….the name given to mistakes
With the abolition of private property….. nobody will waste their life on accumulating things.
One should always be a little improbable
You can atone being slightly overdressed by being over educated
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure
The old believe everything, the middle aged suspect everything and the young know everything
Never give a woman anything she can’t wear in the evening
The basis of character is will power
All great ideas are dangerous
May 19, 2025
Ένα γρήγορο βιβλιαράκι που αποτυπώνει τη μοναδική ευφυΐα και το αστείρευτο πνεύμα του Ουάιλντ. Με χιούμορ, αφορισμούς, ειρωνεία και φιλοσοφική διάθεση, σχολιάζει –μεταξύ άλλων–, την τέχνη, την κοινωνία, και την ανθρώπινη φύση, προσφέροντας ένα απολαυστικό ανάγνωσμα για όσους αγαπούν την οξυδέρκεια και τη λογοτεχνική σπιρτάδα. Κάποια γνωμικά/αποφθέγματα αλληλοσυγκρούονται μεταξύ τους, πράγμα λογικό αφού υποθέτω γράφτηκαν σε διαφορετικές εποχές της ζωής του, αλλά αυτό δεν έχει και πολλή σημασία. Γενικά, το προτείνω. (Φυσικά πάνω από όλα προτείνω το "Το Πορτραίτο του Ντόριαν Γκρέυ", το οποίο και θεωρώ αριστούργημα.)
August 3, 2022
[...]Μόνο οι διανοητικά χαμένοι λογομαχούν.
🪶 Η δυσαρέσκεια είναι το πρώτο βήμα για την πρόοδο ενός ανθρώπου ή μιας χώρας.
🪶 Μόνο οι ρηχοί άνθρωποι χρειάζονται χρόνια για να ξεφορτωθούν ένα συναίσθημα. Όποιος είναι κύριος του εαυτού του μπορεί να βάλει τέλος σε μια θλίψη το ίδιο εύκολα όπως και να εφεύρει μια απόλαυση.
🪶 Τα παιδιά ξεκινούν αγαπώντας τους γονείς τους. Ύστερα από ένα διάστημα τους κρίνουν. Σπάνια τους συγχωρούν, αν τους συγχωρέσουν ποτέ.
🪶 Η δυσαρέσκεια είναι το πρώτο βήμα για την πρόοδο ενός ανθρώπου ή μιας χώρας.
🪶 Μόνο οι ρηχοί άνθρωποι χρειάζονται χρόνια για να ξεφορτωθούν ένα συναίσθημα. Όποιος είναι κύριος του εαυτού του μπορεί να βάλει τέλος σε μια θλίψη το ίδιο εύκολα όπως και να εφεύρει μια απόλαυση.
🪶 Τα παιδιά ξεκινούν αγαπώντας τους γονείς τους. Ύστερα από ένα διάστημα τους κρίνουν. Σπάνια τους συγχωρούν, αν τους συγχωρέσουν ποτέ.
May 3, 2019
'I have nothing to declare', Wilde once told an American customs official, 'except my genius'. A socialite, a wit, a man who flaunted convention and was unafraid to shock, Oscar Wilde was a great writer and a great man. This collection demonstrates the brilliance of his vision, the audacity of his style.
March 13, 2021
I think Fry's reflective forward spoke more to me than many of Wilde's musings. He was an interesting character for certain, and as a queer person I feel connected to him and the trials he went through. But his arrogance shines through in this collection in a way I don't like, and his views on women have always troubled me. Still, I enjoyed it.
November 25, 2022
There are many wise and witty gems in this book, but I agree with the other reviews that talk about whiplash... from insightful reflections to conspicuous misogyny, here, there, and back again... and I find myself unable to offer praise in the form of stars for the good parts when the bad parts are so heinous. Not for me, I'm afraid.
December 16, 2024
There are little doubts about the personality of someone who says (when he was on a trip to the US) that he has nothing to declare... except his genius.
The strange part of this statement is that Wilde was almost true, as he was far from being a rich man. But, as he said, he had a touch of magic...
The strange part of this statement is that Wilde was almost true, as he was far from being a rich man. But, as he said, he had a touch of magic...
June 28, 2020
Not sure how a collection of quotes qualifies as a Penguin classic, but it does read longer than its 108 pages due to the need to reread to ensure a meaning hasn't been missed. I liked the one about dangerous women wearing mauve and wearing pink ribbons in their hair.
January 20, 2024
enjoyed the book very much, it is something I have never read, meaning the writing style. It is interesting how he put quotes from the book he wrote to show his thinking and vision. As well, I was surprised how he focused mainly on marriage and women.
March 7, 2023
fuck he was so cool. could we ever have another wilde? i think so much art and room for art has died in modernity
September 8, 2023
I’d sooner read his prose in their entirety. Whilst the artists Witt is formidable - his tongue sharp and mind debauch, it feels like a desperate way to churn out more tree murder.
Read
February 4, 2024full of contradictions. some great quotes, others not so great.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews