Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Beauty is a form of Genius--is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty transcends intellect and explanation, embodying a universal truth that is inherently valuable.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde emphasizes that beauty holds a unique power and significance that surpasses mere intelligence or genius. He suggests that beauty is a fundamental truth of existence, likening it to natural phenomena that need no justification and possess a sovereign quality that elevates those who embody it to a status akin to royalty. Through the expression of beauty, individuals can achieve a profound connection with the world, making it an ineffable and essential element of life.
Themes
BeautyGeniusTruthArtNature
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the power of art, one might use this quote to highlight the significance of beauty in creative expression.
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
Personally I always feel like I could use a little more of poetry apothegmatic power in my own work but we're always lacking something.
Junot DiazRead
You really, really, really have to love what you are going to do in theater because it is an unmerciful life. It's six days a week. It's eight performances a week. And that's doing the exact same thing over and over and over again.
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After all, the goal is not making art. It is living a life. Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art.
Robert HenriRead
In poetry everything which must be said is almost impossible to say well.
Paul ValeryRead
My next book - each one while I'm working on it - dances in my mind and thrills me at every turn. If it didn't, why would I write it?
Yann MartelRead
If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.
Gertrude SteinRead