Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is often created for its beauty and emotional impact, rather than for practical use.
Oscar Wilde's quote suggests that the creation of art is justified by the intense admiration and appreciation it can inspire, rather than its utility. He provocatively claims that all art is 'quite useless', highlighting that its value lies in its ability to evoke feelings and provoke thought, rather than serving a functional purpose in society.
Themes
ArtUselessnessAdmirationBeautyCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
During an art appreciation class, one might say this quote to emphasize the subjective value of beauty in art.
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
Similar quotes
I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate. I thought, that's interesting, because I believe a total unwillingness to cooperate is what is necessary to be an artist β not for perverse reasons, but to protect your vision. The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music. That's why I spend my time now painting.
Joni MitchellRead
The role of an orchestra in the 21st century isn't just playing, it's about developing future audiences and performers.
Leonard SlatkinRead
There was something in her movements that made you think she never walked but always danced.
Lucy Maud MontgomeryRead
The red and white and starry blue _x000D_ Is freedom's shield and hope.
John Philip SousaRead
I may play the same program from one recital to the next, but I will play it differently, and because it is always different, it is always new.
Vladimir HorowitzRead
I attempt to create a form of seriocomic entertainment to either delight, enlighten, or disgust, whichever you'd like. In terms of making motion pictures, I write and direct and act. I guess you'd say I'm a filmmaker.
Albert BrooksRead