王尔德,全名奥斯卡·王尔德,19世纪英国著名的作家、诗人和散文家,以剧作、诗歌、童话和小说闻名,是19世纪英国(当时爱尔兰为英国统治)最伟大的作家和艺术家之一。
1. Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative
谈论天气是无趣人类最后的避难所。
2. I have nothing to declare except my genius.
除了我的天才,我没什么好申报的。
3. I am not at all romantic. I am not old enough. I leave romance to my seniors.
我一点都不浪漫。我还不算太老。还是把浪漫留给比我老的人吧。
4. We Irish are too poetical to be poets; we are a nation of brilliant failures, but we are the greatest talkers since the Greeks.
我们爱尔兰人太诗意以至不能做诗人,我们的国家里充满才华横溢的失败者,可我们是自希腊人以来最伟大的说空话之人。
5. Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.
良心和怯懦其实是一回事。
6. Only the shallow know themselves.
只有浅薄的人才了解自己。
7. The well bred contradict other people.The wise contradict themselves.
教养良好的人处处和他人过不去,头脑聪明的人处处和自己过不去。
8. Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
爱国是恶人的美德。
9. Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
每个人犯了错误,都自称是经验。
10. The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.
对于忠告,你所能做的,就是把它奉送给别人,忠告从来就不是给自己准备的。
11. As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.
只要一个女人看上去比她自己的女儿小十岁,她就一定会心满意足。
12. An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
一个思想若称不上危险,那么它就不值得被称作思想。
13. This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.
悬念是可怕的。我希望它一直延续下去。
14. What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise
看似痛苦的试炼的往往是伪装的祝福。
15. Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.
适度是极其致命的事情。过度带来的成功是无可比拟的。
16. Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
人是理性动物,但当他被要求按照理性的要求行动时,可又要发脾气了。
17. The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
公众惊人地宽容。他们可以原谅一切,除了天才。
18. Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
雄心壮志是失败最后的避难所。
19. Life is never fair…And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
生活从来不是公平的……而且,或许对我们大多数人来说,这是件好事。
20. The very essence of romance is uncertainty.
浪漫的精髓就在于它充满种种可能。
21. I think that God, in creating Man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
我想,上帝在创造人类时高估了他的能力。
22. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
生活是世上最罕见的事情,大多数人只是存在,仅此而已。
23. A poet can service everything but a misprint.
诗人可以拯救一切除了印刷错误。
24. I don not want to earn my living .I want to live.
我不想谋生,我想生活。
25. The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster.
演出相当成功,但观众则是一场灾难。
26. My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has to go.
我和我的墙纸即将展开生死决斗,所以我们中的一个必须得走。
27. I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments.
我喜欢自言自语,因为这样节约时间,而且不会有人跟我争论。
28. To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual
什么也不做是世上最难的事情,最困难并且最智慧。
29. 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.
我年青时以为金钱至上,而今年事已迈,发现果真如此。
30. Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
每次人们赞同我的时候,我都觉得自己一定错了。