Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Ah! realize your youth while you have it. Don’t squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals, of our age. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cherish your youth and time, and seek meaningful experiences instead of wasting them on negativity or conformity.
Oscar Wilde's quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing and valuing one's youthful days. It encourages individuals to avoid wasting time on unproductive pursuits and societal expectations, urging them instead to embrace life fully, seek new experiences, and live with enthusiasm and fearlessness. The quote serves as a reminder to not allow one's potential to be squandered on trivial matters or the mundane aspects of life.
Themes
YouthLifeExperienceLiveCourageMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to inspire young graduates at a commencement speech.
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.
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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.
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Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
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A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
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His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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