Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Personal confession leads to self-forgiveness, rather than external validation.
Oscar Wilde's quote suggests that true absolution comes from within ourselves through the act of confessing our wrongdoings, rather than relying solely on external figures like a priest. It emphasizes the importance of personal accountability and the power of self-reflection in achieving moral or emotional peace.
Themes
ConfessionAbsolutionForgivenessSelf-ReflectionPersonal Accountability
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on personal growth, one might say, 'Remember, it is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.'
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.
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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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Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am.
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Where a reputation for intolerance is more feared than a reputation for vice itself, all manner of evil may be expected to flourish.
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