QuoteProject
The English country-gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Wilde critiques the absurdity of British fox hunting, highlighting the folly of pursuing something unattainable.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde cleverly uses humor to critique the activity of fox hunting, a pastime associated with the English aristocracy. By describing the 'unspeakable' chasing the 'uneatable,' he emphasizes the absurdity and futility of the chase, suggesting that people often pursue activities that are inherently pointless or nonsensical.

Themes

AbsurdityHuntingHumorPursuitFutility

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech addressing the absurdities of modern life, one might use this quote to illustrate how society often chases unrealistic goals.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
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.
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

Similar quotes

If I were asked to think up a new name for temptation, I should recommend the word 'doorknob', because what are these protuberances put on doors for if not to tempt us.
Gunter GrassRead
In this desperate way, I started many a comedy.
Charlie ChaplinRead
I was trying to do one-liners and it took me years to realise I just had to be myself. My fear was if I was myself and no one found it funny, I'd have nowhere left to go.
Michael McintyreRead
Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party.
Robin WilliamsRead
I was so long writing my review that I never got around to reading the book.
Groucho MarxRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.