Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell lies is much worse.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Speaking the truth can be uncomfortable, but dishonesty is far worse.
This quote by Oscar Wilde highlights the inherent discomfort that comes with truth-telling, suggesting that while honesty may cause pain, the consequences of deceit can be far more damaging and detrimental to an individual and their relationships. It suggests that integrity and truthfulness are essential virtues, even in the face of personal discomfort.
Themes
TruthLiesHonestyPainIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of integrity in leadership.
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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