“The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

— Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance (1893), Act 3

About Oscar Wilde

1854 – 1900

Irish poet and playwright renowned for his razor-sharp wit, flamboyant style, and tragic life. Author of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest.

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More from Oscar Wilde

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

— Oscar Wilde

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

— Oscar Wilde

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

— Oscar Wilde

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

— Socrates

“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”

— Epictetus

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

— Epictetus

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”

— William Shakespeare

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

— Marcus Aurelius

“Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.”

— Marcus Aurelius

“The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

About Oscar Wilde

More from Oscar Wilde

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