HIS LAST REQUEST TO JULIA

" As often-times the too resplendent sun Hurries the pallid and reluctant moon Back to her sombre cave, ere she hath won A single ballad from the nightingale, So doth thy Beauty make my lips to fail, And all my sweetest singing out of tune. And as at dawn across the level mead On wings impetuous some wind will come, And with its too harsh kisses break the reed Which was its only instrument of song, So my too stormy passions work me wrong, And for excess of Love my Love is dumb. But surely unto Thee mine eyes did show Why I am silent, and my lute unstrung; Else it were better we should part, and go, Thou to some lips of sweeter melody, And I to nurse the barren memory Of unkissed kisses, and songs never sung."

A master of the epigram, Oscar Wilde quotes are some of the most witty and clever of our time. The talented Irish author and playwright of societal comedies such as "The Ideal Husband" and the classic "Importance of Being Ernest", was prolific in his ability to observe life in wry and amusing ways. Tragically, his comment, "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you" was a precursor to his imprisonment on sodomy charges, the harsh conditions of which led to his illness and death. Oscar Wilde quotes are perceptive, playful and priceless, begging th…