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Who really said it

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing

Written by Oscar Wilde 1854–1900 · Irish playwright, novelist & poet
Verified Free to reuse

Genuine, and locatable to the line: it is Lord Darlington’s in Act III of Lady Windermere’s Fan ↗, the comedy first performed at the St James’s Theatre on 20 February 1892 and published in book form in 1893. One caveat on wording: in the script the phrase “a cynic” belongs to Cecil Graham’s question, and Darlington answers only — “A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Last verified 29 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” Lord Darlington: "A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." — Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III; first performed 20 February 1892, published in book form 1893. The popular one-line form, "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing," folds in Cecil Graham's question "What is a cynic?" Verified by Quotle.info. Verbatim: “Cecil Graham: What is a cynic? Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

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Evoking the world of Oscar Wilde — Irish playwright, novelist & poet. Theme: "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source, in full

Work
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Spoken by
Lord Darlington, Act III
First performed
20 February 1892, St James’s Theatre, London
First published in book form
1893, The Bodley Head, London

LORD DARLINGTON. What cynics you fellows are!

CECIL GRAHAM. What is a cynic? [Sitting on the back of the sofa.]

LORD DARLINGTON. A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

CECIL GRAHAM. And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing. Act III

Graham’s answering definition of the sentimentalist is almost always dropped when the line is quoted — which is what turns a two-sided joke into a one-sided verdict.

Read Act III at Wikisource

How we verified it

  • Primary text, twice. Wikisource’s Act III ↗ and Project Gutenberg’s full play ↗ (transcribed from a Methuen & Co. printing, sixteenth edition, 1917) both carry the exchange verbatim, with Graham’s question and Darlington’s reply.
  • Specialist check. Wikiquote’s Oscar Wilde page ↗ places the line in its sourced Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Act III section — not in Misattributed or Disputed. Quote Investigator has no article on it, which is consistent with a quotation nobody needed to rescue.
  • Dates. Wikipedia ↗ gives the premiere as 20 February 1892 at the St James’s Theatre and the book publication as 1893, by The Bodley Head in London.
  • The earlier form. Wilde had already used the epigram in chapter 4 of The Picture of Dorian Gray ↗, where Lord Henry Wotton says “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” That novel ran in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in July 1890 and was revised for book publication in 1891 — both before the play opened.
Public domain

Lady Windermere’s Fan was first published in book form in 1893, far earlier than the 1931 threshold that governs US public-domain status, and Wilde died in 1900 — the play’s text is in the public domain in the United States. It is written in English, so no translation rights are involved; the Project Gutenberg ↗ and Wikisource transcriptions are freely reusable.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

The author is right. The wording drifts.

This is one of the rare Wilde blockbusters that survives verification — so the interesting failures here are not about who but about what and where. Three recurring slips:

Oscar Wilde, recast as one sentence compressed

The circulating form is “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing” — that is how Goodreads prints it ↗, credited to Wilde with no work named at all. In the script, “a cynic” is Cecil Graham’s question and Darlington replies only “A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” ↗.

“A fool” instead of “a cynic” swapped word

Quote-image sites circulate “A fool knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” ↗ over Wilde’s name. It inverts the point: Wilde was defining the person who is too knowing, not the person who is stupid.

The Picture of Dorian Gray wrong work

The two are constantly conflated because Wilde wrote both. The novel’s version is a different sentence in a different mouth — Lord Henry Wotton’s “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing” ↗, in chapter 4. If you are quoting the cynic definition, the source is the play.

The attribution holds: the words are Lord Darlington’s in Act III of Lady Windermere’s Fan ↗, a play Wilde wrote — so quote it as dialogue he wrote, not as an aphorism he offered in his own voice.

Context

Why the line stuck

Wilde liked the joke enough to use it twice. It first reached print in The Picture of Dorian Gray, where Lord Henry Wotton, late because he had been haggling over old brocade in Wardour Street, sighs that “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing” ↗ — the novel ran in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in July 1890 and was revised for book publication in 1891. By the time Lady Windermere’s Fan opened in February 1892, Wilde had sharpened the grumble into a definition and handed it to a character who is himself half a cynic.

On stage it is not a moral verdict but one move in a duel. Darlington needles the room — “What cynics you fellows are!” — Graham asks him to define the term, and the moment Darlington does, Graham fires back a matching definition of the sentimentalist. That second half is almost never quoted, which is why the line now reads as sincere social criticism rather than as drawing-room fencing.

Wilde wrote both halves of the argument; posterity kept only the half that flatters the reader.

The exchange in full

LORD DARLINGTON. What cynics you fellows are!

CECIL GRAHAM. What is a cynic? [Sitting on the back of the sofa.]

LORD DARLINGTON. A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

CECIL GRAHAM. And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.

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Wisdom Character Doubt

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Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III (full text)en.wikisource.org

The primary text: Graham's question and Darlington's answer, printed with stage directions.
Lady Windermere's Fan — Project Gutenbergwww.gutenberg.org

Full play transcribed from a Methuen & Co. printing (sixteenth edition, 1917); the cynic exchange is in Act III.
Oscar Wilde — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Lists the line in its sourced Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), Act III section — not under Misattributed or Disputed.
The Picture of Dorian Gray — Project Gutenbergwww.gutenberg.org

Chapter 4 contains Wilde's earlier form of the epigram, spoken by Lord Henry Wotton.
Lady Windermere's Fan — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Premiere date and theatre (20 February 1892, St James's) and the 1893 book publication by The Bodley Head.
Oscar Wilde — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Life dates, nationality, and the play's reception during Wilde's 1890s success.

The true author

Who was Oscar Wilde?

Oscar Wilde

1854–1900 · Irish playwright, novelist & poet

Born in Dublin on 16 October 1854 and dead in Paris on 30 November 1900, Wilde was an Irish author, poet and playwright who became one of the most popular and influential dramatists in London in the early 1890s. Lady Windermere’s Fan was the first of the society comedies that made him a commercial force: it opened in February 1892 and toured the country for months, even as conservative critics sniffed at it. He is one of the most misquoted writers in English — which makes the lines that are his, like this one, worth pinning down precisely.

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Wilde, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan, Act III. London: The Bodley Head, 1893. First performed at the St James's Theatre, London, 20 February 1892. Text as transcribed in Project Gutenberg's edition (London: Methuen & Co., sixteenth edition, 1917) and at Wikisource.

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