Irish poet and playwright
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.
Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
In England, an inventor is regarded almost as a crazy man, and in too many instances, invention ends in disappointment and poverty. In America, an inventor is honoured, help is forthcoming, and the exercise of ingenuity, the application of science to the work of man, is there the shortest road to wealth.
Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement.
Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.
I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy.
Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion.
If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.