Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Conscience and cowardice are two sides of the same coin, with conscience being a socially accepted term.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that what we often perceive as moral conscience may actually be a manifestation of cowardice. He implies that the motivations driving our ethical choices might not stem from noble intentions, but rather from a fear of judgment or consequences, thus questioning the true nature of moral integrity and the complexity of human motivations.
Themes
ConscienceCowardiceMoralityFearHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about moral dilemmas, this quote could be used to illustrate the complexity of ethical decision-making.
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
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At least five times, with the Arian and the Albigensian, with the Humanist skeptic, after Voltaire and after Darwin, the Christian Faith has to all appearance, gone to the dogs? But, in each of these five cases, it was the dog that died.
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All ages are equidistant from eternity, and just as immediately accessible to God's presence.
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It is time enough, for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere [in the propagation of religious teachings] when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.
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When I am dead, and over me bright April Shakes out her rain drenched hair, Tho you should lean above me broken hearted, I shall not care. For I shall have peace. As leafey trees are peaceful When rain bends down the bough. And I shall be more silent and cold hearted Than you are now
Sara TeasdaleRead