Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Art never harms itself by keeping aloof from the social problems of the day: rather, by so doing, it more completely realises for us that which we desire.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art should engage with social issues to reflect our desires more fully.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that art does not distance itself from societal challenges; rather, it enhances our understanding of who we are and what we desire when it engages with these issues. By connecting with the social problems of its time, art can more effectively resonate with people's emotions and aspirations, fostering a deeper appreciation for the human experience.
Themes
ArtSocietyDesireEngagementSocial Issues
In practice
Example use cases
In a gallery opening that emphasizes socially conscious art.
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
I always like the studio best, once I got the hang of it and the control. I like it because it's complete control
John LennonRead
The poet does not know - often he will never know - whom he really writes for.
Eugenio MontaleRead
Political satire is a serious thing. In democratic newspapers throughout the world there are daily cartoons that often are not even funny, as is the case especially in many English-language newspapers. Instead, they contain a political message, and the artist takes full responsibility.
Umberto EcoRead
I've lost all my money on these films. They are not commercial. But I'm glad to lose it this way. To have for a souvenir of my life pictures like Umberto D. and The Bicycle Thief.
Vittorio De SicaRead
I work for ABC. If the thing that ABC is paying me for is storytelling - not to make sure that a costume is exactly right or all those other things - then it is up to me to find the most creative space possible so that that function of my job can happen.
Shonda RhimesRead
By the end, you should be inside your character, actually operating from within somebody else, and knowing him pretty well, as that person knows himself or herself. You're sort of a predator, an invader of people.
William TrevorRead