Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
One should never make one's entrance with a scandal. One should reserve that to give an interest to one's old age.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Avoid creating drama at the start of your life; save it for later to maintain intrigue.
Oscar Wilde suggests that a dramatic or scandalous entrance into life can overshadow one's true essence. Instead of seeking attention through turmoil or controversy, one should navigate through life with grace and save the more vivid stories for later, enriching the tapestry of one's life as time goes on.
Themes
ScandalEntranceInterestOld AgeDrama
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a retirement party might refer to the quote when reflecting on their career.
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.
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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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