Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
We live in an age that reads too much to be wise, and that thinks too much to be beautiful.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that excessive reading and overthinking can hinder true wisdom and beauty.
Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the paradox of modern society, where the abundance of information leads to superficial understanding rather than deep wisdom. It implies that while reading and thinking are valuable, an overload can distract individuals from appreciating the simple beauty of life and the profundities of wisdom that come from experience and reflection rather than mere knowledge accumulation.
Themes
WisdomBeautyReadingThinkingKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate about education, one could reference this quote to emphasize a balanced approach to learning.
More from Oscar Wilde
All quotes →London is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
Oscar WildeRead
When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
Oscar WildeRead
Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
Oscar WildeRead
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
Oscar WildeRead
His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
Oscar WildeRead
Similar quotes
He’s always asking: ‘Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.’ It’s like, Why don’t you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet.
Michelle ObamaRead
Ponder the fact that God has made you a gardener, to root out vice and plant virtue.
St. Catherine Of SienaRead
If we become increasingly humble about how little we know, we may be more eager to search.
John TempletonRead
If I could not be persuaded into doing what I thought wrong, I never will be tricked into it.
Jane AustenRead
Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.
LaoziRead
Be mindful of the words that you use and the actions that you live and who you are and how it is you use your power. Keep clear at all times that you are what you say you are.
Gary ZukavRead