Declared by Oscar Wilde in New York, 1882
Origin
On January 3, 1882, the Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde disembarked from the ship that brought him from England to New York. The ship arrived in port the night before but was held in quarantine until the next morning.
In point of fact it was the morning of January 3rd when Wilde left the ship and went to the New York Customs House, where government agents asked their standard question: Do you have anything to declare?
Wilde supposedly answered: “I have nothing to declare except my genius.”