We all know an Oscar Wilde quote when we read one. “Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.” This brilliant, illogically true statement from Lady Windermere’s Fan has the late writer’s name written all over it. And his literary repertoire overflows with equally funny and meaningful witticisms. Doesn’t each of his quotes have a certain unmistakable “ring” to it? I definitely think so, which is why I find the many fake quotes attributed to him fairly easy to distinguish.
“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.”
Anybody who
has searched “Oscar Wilde quotes” on Google has likely come across this famous
statement. I love the quote, but it just doesn’t seem to me like one Wilde
would have said. Compare the above quote to this one:
“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?”
Doesn’t this
sound so much more like Oscar Wilde? Somehow, this quote is funnier, more
outrageous and more absurdly relevant. The fake quote expresses the same basic
idea, but I think it’s too straightforward to have come from man it’s
attributed to.
“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.”
Again, I
adore this quote, but I think it’s too serious to have been said by Oscar
Wilde. I have no doubt that he agreed with it because it echoes a phrase found
in the preface to The
Picture of Dorian Gray:
“There is no
such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly
written. That is all.” Certainly, Wilde had much to say on this topic. His own
works were frequently caught in controversies concerning “morality.”—controversies
perpetuated by those unable to tolerate the satire directed at their own (and
Wilde’s) way of life.
The two “faux”
quotes above are questionable. They pop out at me as “fake,” but who can say
for sure? Oscar Wilde himself wrote in The
Importance of Being Earnest that “the truth is rarely pure and never
simple.” Maybe someday I (or one of you guys) will find sources for the statements
above, but until then, I’m going to avoid attributing them to Wilde.
I find
that The Quotations Page is pretty
reliable (I always search “Marilyn Monroe quotes” to test these kinds of
websites. It’s always reassuring ,too, if the site includes sources). You guys
should check out the Oscar
Wilde page (for amusement if nothing else)! With anyone, the more real
quotes you read and the more interviews you watch, the better you’ll get at
weeding out fake quotes.
It's pretty clear you've never actually read Oscar Wilde. The second quote is from dialogue within The Picture of Dorian Gray. Lord Henry says it to Dorian in chapter 19 Here's the thing about Oscar Wilde: he stuck with his philosophies and often repeats them in various ways and various wordings through all of his work. Thus, don't assume that just because one quote sounds like another that he didn't say both.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't read Wilde very carefully if you think he would use a solecism such as "... treat you LIKE you'rrdinary." I think you can safely trust a Wildean scholar who wrote a BA honours thesis comparing Wilde and Coward on this subject.
DeleteHe would not have said ‘like’, he would have said ‘as if’; his English was perfect!
ReplyDeleteDo you know which book the first quote is from?
ReplyDelete