王爾德（Oscar Wilde，1854年10月16日－1900年11月30日）
愛爾蘭作家、詩人、劇作家，英國唯美主義藝術運動的倡導者。
因為是個優秀的傢伙，所以似乎又不可避免地和同性戀扯上關連，
甚至因此被英國政府判刑，遠走法國，從此以後他就相當厭惡英國 XD
（順提：寒假時看的電影《格林。道雷》正是由他所寫的書本改編而成，
也正是因為這本書，王爾德才成為毀譽參半的作家）
我和愛爾蘭人有孽緣，常常喜歡上這個國境的子民。
這傢伙講的話都帶著點黑色幽默，而且十分中肯，
一看之下非常喜歡，於是整理之，有原文者就會附上。
我覺得他應該很對某些自詡為天才者的胃口，因為他是少數承認自己是天才的天才。
他曾經在進入紐約時，對海關說：除了我的天才之外，我沒有什麼可申報的。
（I have nothing to declare except my genius.）
＊人真正的完美不在於他擁有什麼，而在於他是什麼。
＊奚落是庸才對天才的頌歌。
Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.
＊一個思想若稱不上危險，那麼它就不值得被稱作思想。
An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
＊什麼也不做是世上最難的事情，最困難並且最智慧。
To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world,
the most difficult and the most intellectual.
＊教養良好的人處處和他人過不去，頭腦聰明的人處處和自己過不去。
The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
＊我不想謀生，我想生活。
I don't want to earn my living; I want to live.
＊紳士是一個從來不在無意中去傷害別人感情的人。
A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.
＊談論天氣是無趣人類最後的避難所。
Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
＊我敬佩簡單的快樂，那是複雜的最後避難所。
I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
＊經驗是一個人給自己所犯的錯誤取的名字。
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
＊不要懼怕過去。如果人們告訴你說過去的事情無可挽回，別相信他們。
Don't be afraid of the past.
If people tell you that it is irrevocable, don't believe them.
＊邪惡是善良的人們編造的謊言，用來解釋其他人的特殊魅力。
Wickedness is a myth invented by good people
to account for the curious attractiveness of others
＊每個人生下來都是王，而大多數人卻在放逐中死去。
Everyone is born king, and most people die in exile.
＊來自敵人的困難可以忍，來自朋友的成功則無可忍。
It is very easy to endure the difficulties of one's enemies.
It is the successes of one's friends that are hard to bear.
＊離婚的主要原因？——結婚。
What is the chief cause of divorce? Marriage.
＊藝術是世間唯一需要認真看待的事，藝術家卻是社會上唯一拒絕認真的人。
Art is the only serious thing in the world.
And the artist is the only person who is never serious.
＊除了誘惑，我什麼都能抵禦。
I can resist everything except temptation.
＊擺脫誘惑的唯一方法是屈服於它。
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
＊女人激起我們成就大事業的慾望，卻阻止我們去付諸實現。
＊我喜歡有未來（有前途）的男人和有過去（不正派）的女人。
I like men who have a future and women who have a past .
＊我年青時以為金錢至上，而今年事已邁，發現果真如此。
When I was young I used to think that money was the most important thing in
life. Now that I am old, I know it is.
＊空虛預示著嚴肅時代的到來。
＊朝三暮四和永世相守的區別，在於前者比後者更持久些。
＊我對人有很大的區別，我選擇有漂亮外貌的人做朋友，
有高尚人品的做熟人，有聰明頭腦的做敵人。
＊一個人在選擇他的敵人時，再小心也不為過。
A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
＊一個人戀愛的時候總是以自欺欺人開始，而以欺騙別人告終。
When one is in love, one always begins by deceiveing one's self,
and one always ends by deceiving others.
＊所有女人都會變得像她們的母親一樣，這是女人的悲劇。
但沒有男人變得像他們的父親，這是男人的悲劇。
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy.
No man does. That's his.
＊她渾身上下純粹是隻孔雀，只是少了美麗。
＊這世界就是舞台，可角色就分配得不像樣子。
＊人是理性動物，但當他被要求按照理性的要求行動時，可又要發脾氣了。
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper
when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
＊友誼遠比愛情更為可悲，它持續得更久。
＊我從不把後天的事拖到明天做。
＊布蘭登太太介紹客人，就像拍賣商介紹賣品一樣，
要麼輕描淡寫說上幾句，要麼什麼都說，就是不說你想知道的。
＊英國人決不對一件藝術品感興趣，直到有人說這件東西不道德。
＊倘若窮人有鮮明的個性，解決貧困問題就不會困難重重。
＊世上只有一件事比被人議論更糟糕了，那就是沒有人議論你。
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about.
＊人生的首要任務是變得盡可能的矯揉造作，何為第二任務至今尚無人發現。
＊個人虛榮心的最大的滿足，莫過於被說成是墮入魔障的罪人
＊人生有兩個悲劇，一種是一個人沒有得到他想要的，另一種是他得到了。
In this world there are only two tragedies.
One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
＊我們都生活在陰溝裡，但仍有人仰望星空。
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
＊沒有人富有到可以贖回自己的過去。
No man is rich enough to buy back his own past.
＊真相很少純粹，也決不簡單。
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
＊男人啊越變越老，絕不會越變越好。
Men become old, but they never become good.
＊女人對許多事情生來就很精明。除了顯而易見的東西，什麼也瞞不了她們。
＊女人再嫁是因為討厭原來的丈夫，男人再娶是因為太愛原來的妻子。
When a woman marries again,it is because she detested her first husband.
When a man marries again,it is because he adored his first wife.
＊如今是這樣的年代，讀得太多而沒時間欣賞，寫得太多而沒時間思想。
＊其實，藝術這面鏡子反映的是照鏡者，而不是生活。
＊恨是盲目的，愛亦然。
Hatred is blind, as well as love.
＊當愛到了終點，
軟弱者哭泣，精明者馬上去發現另外一個，聰明的早就預備了一個。
When a love comes to an end, weaklings cry,
efficient ones instantly find another love
and wise already had one in reserve.
＊情感的好處就是讓我們誤入歧途。而科學的好處是不感情用事。
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray,
and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional.
＊詩人可以從任何事件中存活，印刷錯誤除外。
A poet can survive everything but a misprint.
＊只有淺薄的人才了解自己。
Only the shallow know themselves.
＊我喜歡自言自語，因為這樣節約時間，而且不會有人跟我爭論。
I like to do all the talking myself.
It saves time, and prevents arguments.
＊活著是世上最珍貴的，大多數人只是存在，僅此而已。
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
＊悲觀主義者是這種人：當他可以從兩種罪惡中擇一時，他把兩種都選了。
Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.
＊社會僅僅以一種精神概念而存在，真實世界中只有個體存在。
Society exists only as a mental concept;
in the real world there are only individuals.
＊一個憤世嫉俗的人知道所有東西的價格，卻不知道任何東西的價值。
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
＊女人如何能期望會從男人那裡獲得幸福，如果他堅持把她當作一個完全正常的人。
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.
＊所謂道德抑或不道德的書是不存在的。
書就只有分寫得好、寫得差，僅此而已。
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.
Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
＊教育是一件可敬的事，但要時刻牢記，沒有什麼值得知道的事是教得會的。
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from
time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
＊我喜歡人甚於原則，此外我還喜歡沒原則的人甚於世界上的一切。
I like persons better than principles,
and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
＊大多數人都從眾，
他們的思想是其他人的意見，他們的生活是一場模仿，他們熱衷於引旁人所述。
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions,
their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
＊說到底，什麼是時裝潮流？
從藝術的角度來看，它通常是一種醜陋形式的表達，
以至於人們忍無可忍地每六個月便要把它修改一下。
And, after all, what is a fashion?
From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness
so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
＊一切藝術皆沒有道德可言。
All art is immoral.
＊真朋友才會當面捅你一刀。
A true friend stabs you in the front.
＊心是用來碎的。
The heart was made to be broken.
＊夢想家只能在月光下找到自己的路，他的懲罰是第一個看見黎明。
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.
＊不夠真誠是危險的，太真誠則絕對是致命的。
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing,
and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
＊永遠要寬恕你的敵人。沒有什麼比這更能讓他們心煩的了。
Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.
＊爭論是俗不可耐的，因為道德社會裡每個人都持完全相同的觀點。
Arguments are to be avoided;
they are always vulgar and often convincing.
＊糟糕的畫家總是欣賞彼此的作品。
Bad artists always admire each other's work.
＊良心和怯懦其實是一回事。
Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.
＊民主就是：人民用人民的大頭棒打擊人民。
Democracy means
simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
＊我還沒有年輕到什麼都懂的地步。
I am not young enough to know everything.
＊我簡直太聰明了，有時連我自己都不知道自己在說什麼。
I am so clever
that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I'm saying.
＊我喜歡對一堵牆說話，世界上只有它不會反駁我。
I like talking to a brick wall,
it's the only thing in the world that never contradicts me.
＊我喜歡演戲。與人生相比，演戲更真實。
原文：I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
＊我想，上帝在創造人類時高估了他的能力。
I think that God, in creating Man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
＊所有人類的重大問題都有一個共同點：沒有點幽默和瘋狂是沒辦法解決的。
It is characteristic of all deep human problems
that they are not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.
＊爭論者損失的只是智力。
It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue.
＊人生就是一件蠢事追著另一件蠢事而來，而愛情則是兩個蠢東西追來追去。
Life is one fool thing after another
whereas love is two fool things after each other.
＊結婚是想像戰勝了理智，再婚是希望戰勝了經驗。
Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.
＊一個人決不應該相信說出自己真實年齡的女人。
如果她把這都說出來了，那她什麼都會說。
＊女人的生活中只有一個真正的悲劇：
她總在緬懷過去的愛人，卻必須活在由丈夫建構的未來。
There is only one real tragedy in a woman's life.
The fact that her past is always her lover,
and her future invariably her husband.
＊鋼琴上貼著一條告示：請不要槍殺鋼琴師，他已經盡力了。
Over the piano was printed a notice:
Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.
＊樂觀的基礎完全是恐懼。
The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
＊報紙和文學的區別是，報紙沒法讀，而文學則沒人讀。
The difference between journalism and literature is that
journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.
＊聖人和罪人的唯一區別是，每一個聖人都有過去，而每一個罪人都有未來。
The only difference between saints and sinners is that
every saint has a past while every sinner has a future.
＊愛國是惡人的美德。
Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
＊對於忠告，你所能做的，就是把它奉送給別人，忠告從來就不是給自己準備的。
The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on.
It is never of any use to oneself.
＊公眾極其寬容，他們可以寬容一切，天才除外。
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
＊懸念是可怕的。我希望它一直延續下去。
This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.
＊愛自己就是開始一場延續一生的羅曼史。
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
＊所有糟糕的詩歌都源於真情實感。
All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.
＊自然化的作品其內涵是顯而易見的，而顯而易見的內涵並不藝術。
＊每當人們贊同我時，我總希望自己一定是錯了。
Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
＊當天神想要懲罰我們，他們就答應我們的祈禱。
When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
＊女人因為男人的缺點而愛男人；
如果男人的缺點足夠多，女人甚麼事都可以原諒他們，哪怕是他們的智力。
＊年輕人想要有信仰，但他們卻沒有；老年人不想要有信仰，但卻辦不到。
Young men want to be faithful, and are not;
old men want to be faithless, and cannot.
＊偉大的藝術家所看到的，從來都不是世界的本來面目。
一旦他看透了，他就不再是藝術家。
No great artist ever sees things as they really are.
If he did he would cease to be an artist.
＊我給你們講述的是所有你們沒勇氣去犯的罪孽。
I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.
＊除了感官，什麼也不能治靈魂的創痛，同樣，感官的飢渴也只有靈魂解除得了。
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses,
just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
＊一個人總是可以善待他毫不在意的人。
One can always be kind to people one cares nothing about.
＊看似痛苦的試煉的往往是偽裝的祝福。
What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
＊死亡和庸俗是十九世紀僅有的無法用巧辯逃避的東西。
Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century
that one cannot explain away.
＊我們愛爾蘭人太詩意以至不能做詩人，我們的國家裡充滿才華橫溢的失敗者，
可我們是自希臘人以來最偉大的說空話之人。
We Irish are too poetical to be poets;
we are a nation of brilliant failures,
but we are the greatest talkers since the Greeks.
最後收錄一整段他所說過的完整的話，
這是1878年，他的同儕友人大衛亨特．布萊爾問到他真正的抱負時王爾德的回應。
當時他只不過24歲。
「上帝知道，我無論如何都不會跑去當牛津大學教授的。
我將會是一個詩人，一個作家，劇作家。
我會不知怎的就一舉成名，如果不是名動四方，那就是臭名遠播。
又或者我會把畢生都用來享樂，然後，
誰知道呢，可能只是停下來休息，什麼也不做。
柏拉圖說過：當人生走到盡頭時最崇高的，莫過於坐下來，沉思世間事物。
也許這也將會是我最後的結局。 」
"God knows; I won't be an Oxford don anyhow.
I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist.
Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious.
Or perhaps I'll lead the life of pleasure for a time
and then—who knows?—rest and do nothing.
What does Plato say is the highest end that man can attain here below?
To sit down and contemplate the good.
Perhaps that will be the end of me too."
創作內容
王爾德語錄集
【妖夜綺談】 (2)