Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Literature engages and captivates readers, whereas journalism can often be inaccessible or difficult to appreciate.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde highlights the contrast between literature and journalism, suggesting that while literature has the power to resonate with and be cherished by readers, journalism often fails to captivate its audience, making it unreadable for many. Wilde's observation points to the idea that literary works are crafted with artistry and emotional depth, whereas journalism may prioritize factual reporting over literary quality, sometimes resulting in a lack of appreciation from the public.
Themes
LiteratureJournalismWritingReadingCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of media in society, this quote can emphasize the artistic value of literary works.
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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If the worst comes true, and the paper book joins the papyrus scroll and parchment codex in extinction, we will miss, I predict, a number of things about it.
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There is something I keep wanting to say about reading short stories. I am doing it now, because I many never have another occasion. Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. Read one. Shut the book. Read something else. Come back later. Stories can wait.
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Whoever utters 'Kafkaesque' has neither fathomed nor intuited nor felt the impress of Kafka's devisings. If there is one imperative that ought to accompany any biographical or critical approach, it is that Kafka is not to be mistaken for the Kafkaesque.
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The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time.
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The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.
W. H. AudenRead