Happy Birthday, Oscar Wilde!

Alright alright, so technically he isn't alive enough to hear our birthday wishes ... but that's not enough to keep us from taking a moment to honor one of the godfathers of wit, wordsmithery and worldliness, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde.

Wilde was born on this day in Dublin in 1854, and in his brief 46-year lifespan produced lasting classics in theatre (The Importance of Being Earnest), literature (The Picture of Dorian Gray) and poetry, although Wilde's very public trial for gross indecency and subsequent imprisonment for his homosexual leanings may be what many know him for more than anything. Wilde's ill-fated affair with Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"), was portrayed in gay actor/writer/filmmaker/Wilde historian Stephen Fry's film Wilde, which was partly responsible for launching Jude Law to international stardom.

Wilde was also a master of clever quotations, and many commonly used today are attributed to him. His prominent role in the decadent movement has cemented him as something of a pre-rock rockstar, a point which gay director Todd Haynes made in his glam-rock epic Velvet Goldmine by suggesting that Wilde was delivered to earth by a spaceship to become the world's first pop icon.

Here's a selection of Wilde's best lines, in case you want to celebrate his birthday by dropping a few in the break room...

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."

"I am not young enough to know everything."

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."