Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Young people often view their elders as naive, believing their lack of experience grants them superior insight.
This quote by Oscar Wilde highlights the tendency of youth to underestimate the wisdom that comes with age. It suggests that young individuals may sometimes mistake their own inexperience for an advantage, believing they possess a fresh perspective that negates the life lessons learned by older generations. Wilde's observation speaks to the interplay of age and experience, urging a recognition of the value that comes from lived experiences.
Themes
YouthExperienceWisdomAgeInexperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech emphasizing the importance of learning from elders.
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.
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.
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His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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You need not even listen, just wait...the world will offer itself freely to you, unmasking itself.
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Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.
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