Oscar Wilde, Irish author and poet, “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go”

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” You don’t need this line explained, right?

You hear it once and immediately start running names through your head. We all do. It’s brutal, neat, and even funny in that slightly uncomfortable way. Which is exactly why it has spent decades riding around with Oscar Wilde’s name attached to it.

Except he almost certainly didn’t write it.

There is no trace of the quote in Wilde’s plays, novels, essays, letters, or notebooks. Not in The Importance of Being Earnest. Not in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Not even buried in some forgotten corner of The Duchess of Padua as some have claimed. And don’t take my word for it. Others have looked. Repeatedly. The earliest solid appearances come years after Wilde died, popping up anonymously in early 20th-century magazines and newspapers.

So how did it become “his”? Most likely by accident, people think. In a 1940s aphorism collection, the line was printed right below a genuine Wilde quote. Someone skimmed. Someone else copied. A few decades later, it was Wilde forever. It’s like a modern day viral meme that is seen by millions before someone realises it wasn’t true.

Still, the line survives. And honestly, it doesn’t need him.

What the quote nails is not morality or personality but effect. Some people make rooms easier. Conversation flows. Time moves faster. Other people don’t necessarily mean to drain the atmosphere, but somehow the air clears when they leave. Any global politicians spring to mind? I’d argue the message it conveys works best because it’s observational, not preachy. And dare I say that while we think of those around us who fit, we’re also inwardly questioning which side of the quote we sit on. Well, except for those narcissists out there.

Whether Wilde wrote it or not, the quote still asks the same question every time. And if you’re smart, you don’t answer it out loud.

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