[E]very saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

The line is spoken by a character in Oscar Wilde’s comedy of manners *A Woman of No Importance* (1893), a play preoccupied with Victorian moral hypocrisy, sexual double standards, and the social policing of “respectability.” Wilde wrote it at the height of his London theatrical success, when his wit often served as a vehicle for serious ethical critique. In the play, the epigram functions as a pointed rebuke to judgmental moralizing: it reminds the audience that reputations conceal complicated histories and that condemnation ignores the possibility of change. The sentiment also resonates with Wilde’s broader interest in mercy, forgiveness, and the instability of social labels.

Wilde compresses a moral argument into a paradox: “saints” are not born pure, and “sinners” are not fixed in their wrongdoing. The first clause punctures self-righteousness by insisting that virtue often emerges from struggle, error, or experience; the second insists on human moral agency and the possibility of redemption. The aphorism critiques a culture that treats moral status as permanent and public—especially in matters of sexual conduct and social scandal—while urging empathy and humility. Its enduring appeal lies in its balanced refusal of both idealization and despair: it neither romanticizes sin nor denies the reality of transformation.

“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”