QuoteProject
Indeed, as any one who has ever worked among the poor knows only too well, the brotherhood of man is no mere poet's dream, it is a most depressing and humiliating reality.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the harsh truth of human existence and the struggles faced by the poor, contrasting idealism with reality.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde emphasizes that the concept of 'the brotherhood of man' is not just an idealistic notion often romanticized by poets, but rather a sobering reality that exposes the hardships and humiliations experienced by those who are less fortunate. Wilde's statement serves as a critique of society's neglect of the poor and compels us to confront the uncomfortable truths of social inequality.

Themes

BrotherhoodPovertyRealityTruthSociety

In practice

Example use cases

In a charity event speech to highlight the need for social justice.

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

Virginity is now a mere preamble or waiting room to be got out of as soon as possible; it is without significance. Old age is similarly a waiting room, where you go after life's over and wait for cancer or a stroke. The years before and after the menstrual years are vestigial: the only meaningful condition left to women is that of fruitfulness.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
There is nothing wrong with underlining personal agency, but there is something unfair about using personal responsibility as a basis for assigning blame while simultaneously denying those who are being blamed the opportunity to exert agency in their lives
Paul FarmerRead
A private sin is not so prejudicial in this world, as a public indecency.
Miguel De CervantesRead
There are skeptics who do not come to their view because they have a source of income from carbon polluters.
Al GoreRead
You cannot slander human nature; it is worse than words can paint it.
Charles SpurgeonRead
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
Albert EinsteinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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