Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
A man who moralizes is a hypocrite, and a woman who does so is invariably plain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques moralizing behavior, suggesting it reflects hypocrisy in men and a lack of attractiveness in women.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde highlights the contradiction in people who proclaim moral superiority while failing to embody those morals themselves. He suggests that men who engage in moralizing are hypocritical, while women who do so are perceived as unfashionable or unattractive, pointing to a societal double standard in the perception of morality and appearance.
Themes
HypocrisyMoralityAppearanceDouble StandardsSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethics, one might use this quote to illustrate the shortcomings of moralizing without genuine integrity.
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.
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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.
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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