Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a desire for novelty and exploration in new friendships while suggesting a comfort in the familiarity of old friendships.
Oscar Wilde's quote highlights the human tendency to be intrigued by new relationships, where we seek to learn and understand everything we can about new friends. In contrast, with old friends, there's often a comfortable silence where the past holds strong value, and new discoveries are less necessary, emphasizing the different dynamics involved in varying lengths of friendship.
Themes
FriendshipNewOldRelationshipsFamiliarity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a conversation about how friendships change over time.
More from Oscar Wilde
All quotes βLondon 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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Similar quotes
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A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.
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Because our expression is imperfect we need friendship to fill up the imperfections.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead