Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being labeled a sinner can inflate one's sense of self-importance and ego.
Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the nature of vanity and self-perception. It suggests that the act of being labeled as a sinner does not just indicate wrongdoing but can also lead to an inflated sense of self-worth, as the individual may become preoccupied with their identity as a sinner, potentially seeing themselves as more significant than others who are not labeled in the same way.
Themes
VanitySinSelf-PerceptionEgoJudgment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about self-esteem and morality.
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.
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A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
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His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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