The name “Oscar Wilde” is everywhere on social media. Every time we look for quotes online, there is always at least one quote by Oscar Wilde. Mostly, those are about society, identity, love and emotion.

We post those quotes, we refer to him in literature class as the great Irish playwright, but only a few of us know about the person behind those quotes.

Oscar Wilde was born on 16 October 1854. On his 172nd birthday, I wanted to learn about the name behind the quotes.

“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”

This line is from The Remarkable Rocket, a story in his 1888 book The Happy Prince and Other Tales. It is spoken by the Rocket, a vain firework. Here, Wilde makes fun of people who try too hard to sound intelligent. Today, we often use these words to glorify narcissism, but Wilde’s perception was different.

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

Wilde wrote this in 1891, in an essay called The Soul of Man Under Socialism. He says that if people stopped wasting their lives chasing more and more things, then they would be able to truly live a life that actually matters. This is the same thing that many of us feel amid the rat race.

“You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.”

This is from his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, also published as a book in 1891. It is said by Lord Henry. He mostly talked and tempted, while others acted on his ideas. The line is about sins that others never had the courage to commit. Through this line, the novel suggests that our attraction to certain people often comes from the courage they represent. Here, Lord Henry is the tempter, but the story does not end well for Dorian, so the quote is also a warning. It is still relevant to our lives because deep inside, we all want to be liked.

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

It comes from his play Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), where Lord Darlington says it. It means that people have flaws, but some of us still try to aim higher. By then, Wilde was a famous playwright, and London loved him. Three years later, in 1895, his life fell apart.

These quotes show a bold writer who was not afraid to say sharp things about society, nor was he afraid to criticise others. He was glorified for his works and was a prominent figure in London at that time. He had the fame that most of us desire, but that fame did not protect him, and soon he was on trial.

In 1895, he was accused of homosexuality by the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of his close companion Lord Alfred Douglas. This accusation angered Wilde, and he filed a libel case against Queensberry. But during the trial, evidence of Wilde’s relationships with other men emerged, and Wilde withdrew his lawsuit. He was then arrested and charged with “gross indecency” under the laws of the time.

After being imprisoned for two years, he went to France and lived there under the fake name Sebastian Melmoth. He never returned to England. On 30 November 1900, at just 46, Wilde died in a small hotel in Paris.

Wilde was punished harshly for being himself. That is why these lines matter. We often see names under the quotes, but we do not bother to see the context behind those words.

Behind the name of Oscar Wilde lie his courage, his identity and his perception of life and the world. Beneath all these words, there is a man who had it all and lost it all.