Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Why can't these American women stay in their own country? They are always telling us that it is the paradise for women. It is. That is the reason why, like Eve, they are so excessively anxious to get out of it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wilde critiques the notion of America as a paradise for women, suggesting that their desire to escape reveals deeper truths about their reality.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde comments on the contradictory nature of the American perception of gender equality. He implies that while America is often touted as a paradise for women, the fact that women are eager to leave suggests that their experiences may not align with this idealized vision. By referencing Eve from biblical lore, Wilde evokes themes of temptation and discontent, highlighting the complexities of women's lives and the societal expectations placed upon them.
Themes
GenderParadiseDiscontentFreedomEmpowerment
In practice
Example use cases
During a women's rights conference to highlight the struggles women face worldwide.
More from Oscar Wilde
All quotes →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.
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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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