Skip to content
oscarwilde.ieThe complete works
  • Works
  • Plays
  • Poems
  • Fairy Tales
  • Essays
  • Quotes
  • Life
"All art is quite useless."
Oscar Wilde
  • Works
  • Plays
  • Poems
  • Fairy Tales
  • Essays
  • Quotes
  • Life
  • Stories
  • About
  1. Home
  2. /Quotes
  3. /In all unimportant matters, style,...

Wilde, verified

"In all unimportant matters, style, not sincerity, is the essential. In all important matters, style, not sincerity, is the essential."

Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (essay, 1894)
Read it in context

Checked word for word against the text of Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young.

More from Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young

Every quote →
  • "One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art."
  • "The old believe everything: the middle-aged suspect everything: the young know everything."
  • "To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance."
  • "The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered."
  • "Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others."
oscarwilde.ie
"No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Lord Darlington, Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III

Read

  • All works
  • Plays
  • Poems
  • Fairy tales
  • Short stories
  • Essays and lectures

This site

  • His life
  • Quotes
  • Places
  • Gallery
  • About
  • Search
  • Contact
  • Privacy

Oscar Wilde's works are in the public domain. Texts from Standard Ebooks, released under CC0.

An independent site, made in Ireland