Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
The job of the critic is to report to us his moods.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Critics express their personal views and emotions rather than objective truths about art.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that a critic's role is inherently subjective; their reviews and opinions reflect their own emotions and experiences rather than an absolute assessment of the artwork. This highlights the importance of individual perspective in the interpretation of art, underscoring that different critics may have vastly different reactions to the same piece based on their personal moods and contexts.
Themes
CriticArtSubjectivityEmotionsPerspective
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about art reviews, one might say, 'As Oscar Wilde pointed out, the job of the critic is to report his moods.'
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
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The uglier, older, meaner, iller, poorer I get, the more I wish to take my revenge by doing brilliant color, well arranged, resplendent.
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Virginia WoolfRead