Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
The history of women is the history of the worst form of tyranny the world has ever known. The tyranny of the weak over the strong. It is the only tyranny that lasts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the oppression faced by women throughout history, suggesting it is a pervasive and enduring form of tyranny.
Oscar Wilde's quote delves into the historical subjugation of women, characterizing it as a profound and lasting tyranny that contrasts with other forms of oppression. He emphasizes that this particular tyranny is not just about strength; rather, it points to societal dynamics where the marginalized exert control over the powerful, leading to a complex and often overlooked aspect of history that continues to impact society.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion on gender studies to illustrate the historical context of women's struggles.
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.
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.
Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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WE ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY - I mean our country itself, our land. This is a terrible thing to know, but it is not a reason for despair unless we decide to continue the destruction. If we decide to continue the destruction, that will not be because we have no other choice. This destruction is not necessary. It is not inevitable, except that by our submissiveness we make it so.
Dangerous acts can be done safely in a community which thinks and feels rightly, which would be the way to hell if they were executed by those who think and feel wrongly.
Everything we do really is just a little marker on the long road to death. And sometimes that’s overwhelmingly depressing to me, and sometimes it makes me feel kinship and forgiveness. We’ve all got the same ending to the story. The way we make that story more elaborate, I got to respect.