Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Arguments reveal a lack of sophistication and unity in civilized society.
Oscar Wilde's quote suggests that engaging in arguments is a sign of vulgarity and ignorance, implying that in a well-functioning society, individuals share common beliefs and values. He critiques the discord that comes from conflicting opinions, indicating that true refinement comes from harmony and mutual understanding rather than contention.
Themes
ArgumentsSocietyOpinionVulgarityHarmony
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about social norms, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of shared values.
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.
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
If I were not a Jew I would be a Quaker.
Albert EinsteinRead
A Christian should resemble a fruit tree with real fruit, not a Christmas tree with decorations tied on
John StottRead
What makes earth feel like hell is our expectation that it should feel like heaven.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Sin cannot tear you away from him [Christ] even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders.
Martin LutherRead
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.
VoltaireRead
No mariner ever enters upon a more uncharted sea than does the average human being born in the 20th century. Our ancestors know their way from birth through eternity; we are puzzled about the day after tomorrow.
Walter LippmannRead