Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Long engagements can lead to unnecessary scrutiny of a partner's character before marriage.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde expresses his belief that long engagements can complicate the relationship by allowing partners too much time to analyze and assess each other's character. He argues that this scrutiny can be detrimental, suggesting that the uncertainty and potential disappointments arising during a prolonged engagement might undermine the romance and spontaneity that can accompany marriage.
Themes
EngagementMarriageCharacterRelationshipsLove
In practice
Example use cases
A couple discussing their views on engagement length during a wedding planning conversation.
More from Oscar Wilde
All quotes →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.
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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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