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Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.
Oscar Wilde
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Art embodies the depth of human experience, while artists often approach their craft with playful irreverence.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that art holds profound significance in society, serving as a mirror to human experiences and emotions. Conversely, he points out that artists possess a unique perspective, approaching their work not with solemnity but with a sense of playfulness, implying that true creativity thrives in an environment free from seriousness and constraint.

Themes

ArtArtistSeriousnessCreativityExpression

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of creativity in education, you could say, 'As Oscar Wilde reminds us, art is the only serious thing in the world.'

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
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.
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.
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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

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