Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Oscar Wilde reflects on the paradox of society, suggesting that while it may seem delightful, participation in it can be tedious, yet exclusion brings sorrow.
This quote by Oscar Wilde captures the duality of societal engagement. On one hand, Wilde acknowledges the allure and charm of society, which can be enticing and delightful. However, he juxtaposes this with the tediousness of being part of it, implying that social interactions and norms can often be mundane or exhausting. Finally, he points out the sorrow of being excluded from society, suggesting that while participation may be boring, isolation and having to live outside societal structures is a tragic state. Thus, Wilde encapsulates the complexities of social life, presenting it as a blend of enjoyment, ennui, and tragedy.
Themes
SocietyDelightBoreTragedyEngagementIsolation
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on social structures, this quote could illustrate the dual nature of societal engagement.
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.
Oscar WildeRead
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.
Oscar WildeRead
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
Similar quotes
About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter.
Joan Of ArcRead
The opposite of every truth is just as true.
Hermann HesseRead
We have all, at one time or another, been performers, and many of us still are - politicians, playboys, cardinals and kings.
Laurence OlivierRead
Never take over the world to tamper with it. Those who want to tamper with it are not fit to take over the world.
LaoziRead
If there is any realm where distinction is especially difficult, it is the realm of childhood memories, the realm of beloved images harbored in memory since childhood. These memories which live by the image and in virtue of the image become, at certain times of our lives and particularly during the quiet age, the origin and matter of a complex reverie: the memory dreams, and reverie remembers.
Gaston BachelardRead
I insist that men shall have the right to work out their lives in their own way, always allowing to others the right to work out their lives in their own way, too.
Giuseppe GaribaldiRead