Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Nothing is so aggravating as calmness. There is something positively brutal about the good temper of most modern men.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the irony that calmness can be frustrating, suggesting that an unnaturally good demeanor can feel insincere or oppressive.
Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the nature of calmness and good temper in modern society, suggesting that while these qualities are often seen as virtuous, they can also come across as aggravating or inauthentic. The juxtaposition reveals Wilde's characteristic wit, where he critiques the societal expectation of constant composure, implying that it can mask deeper realities and emotions.
In practice
In a speech about the complexities of human emotions.
Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
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
Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself in to its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it," said Marvin. "And what happened?" pressed Ford. "It committed suicide," said Marvin and stalked off back to the Heart of Gold.
It is ludicrous to read the microwave direction on the boxes of food you buy, as each one will have a disclaimer: THIS WILL VARY WITH YOUR MICROWAVE. Loosely translated, this means, You're on your own, Bernice.
Well, the most terrible fear that anybody should have is not war, is not a disease, not cancer or heart problems or food poisoning - it's a man or a woman without a sense of humor.
All the fun is in how you say a thing.
I don't perceive my role as a newsman at all. I'm a comedian from stem to stern. You can cut me open and count the rings of jokes.
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance, were it not for making living, which is rather a nouciance.
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