Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
One should never listen. To listen is a sign of indifference to one's hearers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Listening can indicate a lack of concern for others' opinions.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that listening implies a certain level of indifference toward others, as it may detach one from actively engaging with the perspectives and feelings of their audience. Wilde's statement emphasizes the importance of authentic connection and response in communication rather than mere passive reception.
Themes
ListeningCommunicationIndifferenceEngagementAudience
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker might use this quote to highlight the importance of guiding their audience through active engagement rather than simply presenting information.
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
Oscar WildeRead
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