Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to be good than to be ugly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts beauty and morality, suggesting that while beauty has its advantages, goodness holds greater value than ugliness.
Oscar Wilde's quote explores the complex relationship between beauty and morality, suggesting that while being beautiful may grant certain privileges and social advantages, being good, characterized by moral integrity and kindness, is ultimately more valuable than being ugly. In this reflection, Wilde implies that aesthetic beauty can be fleeting and superficial, whereas goodness, encompassing character and virtue, yields lasting worth that transcends physical appearances.
Themes
BeautyGoodnessMoralityUglinessLifePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion on the values of inner beauty at a seminar.
More from Oscar Wilde
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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.
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Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
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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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