Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the disdain for social class differences in marriage, particularly regarding the speaker's daughter.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde uses irony to critique the rigid social hierarchies of his time, particularly the absurdity of valuing social status over love. The character expresses disbelief that an influential and respected family would allow their daughter to marry someone of lower social standing, highlighting the societal pressures and expectations surrounding marriage and class.
Themes
MarriageSocial ClassSocietyRelationshipsIrony
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of social class on relationships.
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.
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
There’s something insupportable about being pissed with the one person on this planet that sends your adrenaline flowing to remind you that you’re alive. It’s almost like we’re mad because we’ve been shocked out of our usual comatose state of being by feeling something for someone, for ourselves, for just a moment.
Ana CastilloRead
I have scars on my hands from touching certain people.
J. D. SalingerRead
There is much coldness among men because we do not dare to be as cordial as we really are.
Albert SchweitzerRead
Most people who meet my wife quickly conclude that she is remarkable. They are right about this. She is smart, funny and thoroughly charming... Often, after hearing her speak at some function or working with her on a project, people will approach me and say something to the effect of "You know, I think the world of you, Barack, but your wife... wow!"
Barack ObamaRead
I had relationships with men as well as women. I wasn't choosing; I didn't think I had to.
Jeanette WintersonRead
God forgive you, but I never can.
Elizabeth IRead