Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
The sure way of knowing nothing about life is to try to make oneself useful.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Attempting to be useful often leads to misunderstanding life's complexities.
This quote from Oscar Wilde suggests that the pursuit of being useful can limit our understanding of life itself. It implies that focusing solely on practicality or utility may lead to a superficial grasp of deeper truths and the richness of human experience, indicating that wisdom comes from broader contemplation and engagement with life rather than just functionality.
Themes
WisdomLifeKnowledgeUtilityExperience
In practice
Example use cases
A philosopher discussing the complexities of existence might reference this quote.
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
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You can attract more bees with a spoonful of sugar than a cupful of vinegar.
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It will not do merely to listen to great principles. You must apply them in the practical field, turn them into constant practice. What will be the good of cramming the high - sounding dicta of the scriptures? You have first to grasp the teachings of the Shastras, and then to work them out in practical life. Do you understand? This is called practical religion.
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