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Concise prose: the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde
by Philip Yaffe
Part 2 of an occasional series
I am a collector of quotations. I've been since I learned to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school.
I really like what I like to call "concise prose." These Short quotations can cover an unlimited variety of themes: love, religion, politics, human nature, etc. What unites them is their ability to say more in one or two phrases that can express a thousand words treaty. It's like being able to pour a liter of liquid in a pint.
They are superb examples of famous Mark Twain, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."
In principle, all writers and public speakers are capable of producing a concise prose, but clearly some are better than others.
Any collection of concise prose necessarily should be biased in terms of what it includes and excludes. I apologize for my choice, just for the hundreds of other meritorious quotations I had to leave out.
No will agree with all these appointments, which was not his intention. You can even find some of the disgusting and outrageous. This was his intention.
Seldom learn anything of value from what is already agreed. Only those ideas that grate the nerves can open our minds. As with oysters, irritation can produce pearls. So if all that is about to read annoys or shocks, try to think clearly and dispassionately about what you are saying. You will be confirmed in its current belief or shaken into re-examining.
Either way, you win!
This article is part of an occasional series. In each article, I will provide fun, education, and exasperating quotations to your opinion. But just to be sure that we agree on what we are talking here is in a nutshell.
Concise Prose: An event that the principle can not be sure what it means. But when you become certain, you become equally certainly could not have been better to put it another way. In short, big ideas in small packages.
If you have a better definition of concise prose, please contact me. I'd love to hear it.
Who is Oscar Wilde?
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), whose full name was Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde, was a renowned Irish playwright, novelist and poet. His best known works are "The Importance of Being Earnest" "Lady Windermere's Fan" and "An Ideal Husband", three delicious society farces. "The Picture of Dorian Gray", his only novel, dark tragedy, is considered a classic.
In 1895 Wilde was imprisoned for two years on charges of homosexuality. "The love that dare not speak its name" a euphemism for homosexuality. It is closely connected to Wilde because he used during his trial. However, the phrase actually comes from the poem "Two love, "published in 1894 by Lord Alfred Douglas.
Wilde was widely known for his barbed wit, which is clearly reflected in the following quotations.
1. A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
2. A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
3. A gentleman is one who never hurt anyone feelings unintentionally.
4. A man who think for himself does not think at all.
5. A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.
6. A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
7. A true friend stabs you in the front.
8. All women get to be like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is yours.
9. Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
10. An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea.
11. While the war is seen as evil, you will always have its fascination. When viewed as vulgar, cease to be popular.
12. Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
13. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
14. Children begin by loving their parents, after a time they judge them, rarely, if anything, they forgive them.
15. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
16. It always happens in a good advice. It's the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
17. I am so clever that sometimes I do not understand a word of what I'm saying.
18. I can resist everything except temptation.
19. I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good character and my enemies for their intelligence. A man can not be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
20. I sometimes think that God in creating man overestimated some of its ability.
21. If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be fewer problems in the world.
22. Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
23. Life is never fair, and perhaps a good thing for most of us who are not.
24. Man can believe what impossible, but man can not believe the unbelievable.
25. The man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called to act according to the dictates of reason.
26. a real life is so often the life one has not.
27. Pessimist: One who, when he to choose between two evils, chooses both.
28. Society exists only as a mental concept in the real world are not just individuals.
29. The critic has to educate the public, the artist has to educate the critic.
30. The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
31. The only thing to do with good advice is pass it. It is never of any use to oneself.
32. The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
33. The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
34. The world's a stage, but the play is badly cast.
35. There are many things that were going to shoot if they were not afraid that others might pick them up.
36. It is not a luxury in itself reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has the right to blame us.
37. There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.
38. This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.
39. Expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.
40. We are all in the gutter, but some of us we are looking at the stars.
41. When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
42. When a man does one thing well stupid, it's always from the noblest motives.
43. Whenever people agree with me, I always feel that I must be wrong.
44. The woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat.
Earlier in this series
Part 1: concise prose: Wit and wisdom of Mark Twain
Philip Yaffe is a former reporter / feature writer with the Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. In currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. His book recently published in the "I" of the Storm: Secrets of Writing and speaking (almost) as a professional is available from history Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).
For more information, contact:
Philip Yaffe
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 2 660 0405
phil.yaffe @ yahoo.com, @ phil.yaffe gmail.com
About the Author
Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. Now semi-retired, he teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.
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