Oscar Wilde always makes me smile - with respect and admiration.

Hear the reverent words of Orhan Pamuk, Nobel laureate and seeker of stories, who proclaimed: “Oscar Wilde always makes me smile – with respect and admiration. His short stories prove that it is possible to be both sarcastic, even cynical, but deeply compassionate. Just seeing the cover of one of Wilde’s books in a bookshop makes me smile.” These words are more than a tribute; they are a recognition of a paradox in art, that wit and compassion, sarcasm and tenderness, may dwell together in the same soul, creating works that cut like a blade yet heal like a balm.

The origin of this truth lies in Wilde himself, a man whose pen danced between humor and sorrow. He was famed for his dazzling sarcasm, his piercing wit, and his unrelenting eye for hypocrisy. Yet beneath the mask of laughter, Wilde’s stories often revealed a well of humanity and empathy. In tales such as The Happy Prince or The Nightingale and the Rose, the cynic became the poet of compassion, writing of sacrifice, kindness, and love in a world often cruel. Pamuk, who has dedicated his life to capturing the complexities of human nature, recognized in Wilde a kindred spirit—one who proved that irony need not destroy empathy, and that laughter need not exile tenderness.

History offers us others who bore this duality. Consider Voltaire, who with sharp satire exposed the absurdities of kings and clerics, yet whose writings burned with the hope of freedom and justice. Or think of Mark Twain, whose humor often carried bitterness, yet whose compassion for the downtrodden gave birth to works of enduring conscience. Like Wilde, they remind us that to be sarcastic is not necessarily to be cruel; it can be a weapon wielded in defense of truth and in protection of the vulnerable.

The smile Pamuk speaks of is thus not mere amusement—it is an