QuoteProject
I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that beauty and utility are intertwined in creation.

Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the relationship between beauty and utility in art and creation. He proposes that what is considered ugly often stems from an aspiration to create beauty, while true beauty arises when there is an intention to serve a purpose or provide usefulness. This perspective highlights the complexity of artistry and the efforts of creators who navigate the tension between aesthetic appeal and practical function.

Themes

BeautyUtilityCreationArtPurpose

In practice

Example use cases

In a workshop discussing the relationship between design and functionality.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
London 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

You must be really bad, because it is a puzzle. Creating anything is hard. It’s a cliché thing to say, but every time you start a job, you just don’t know anything. I mean, I can break something down, but ultimately I don’t know anything when I start work on a new movie. You start stabbing out, and you make a mistake, and it’s not right, and then you try again and again. The key is you have to commit. And that’s hard because you have to find what it is you are committing to.
Philip Seymour HoffmanRead
Music does not replace words, it gives tone to the words
Elie WieselRead
Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.
Rene MagritteRead
No writer has a right to make that much money. Indeed, without diabolical assistance, no writer can.
Wole SoyinkaRead
What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.
Miuccia PradaRead
An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everybody jumped on his violin?
Marilyn MonroeRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.