Today marks Oscar Wilde’s 160th birthday. Quite apart from being one of Ireland’s greatest writers of all time, and his infamy for one of the most shocking trials of the era, Wilde was also famous for his ability to condense pearls of wisdom into short and snappy one-liners.

That, of course, was all in the late 1800s - but Wilde’s advice is still perfectly applicable to modern life. Here's eight we feel apply just as well know as they did in the late 1800s.

On chat-up lines:

My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.

— Jack, The Importance of being Earnest

On the simple things:

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.

- In interview.

Pic: David Pacey

On being too picky:

He is really not so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one shuts one's eyes, and does not look at him.

— — The Birthday of the Infanta.

Pic: Bruce Turner.

On modern medicine and not worrying:

One can survive everything nowadays except death.

— From Oscariana (1907).

Pic: Anaxila.

On drinking:

After the first glass you see things as you wish they were. After the second glass you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.

— Quoted in the documentary ‘Absinthe’.

Pic: Chris Dag

On mean people online:

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

- The Critic as Artist

On life before the internet:

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.

— A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated

And, most importantly, on eating muffins:

Well, I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One must eat muffins quite calmly, it is the only way to eat them.

— Algernon, The Importance of being Earnest

— Selected from the excellent resource that is Wikiquote - a database of famous quotations maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation.