QuoteProject
In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the idea that while political leaders have temporary tenure, the influence of journalism lasts longer and shapes public perception.

Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the transient nature of political power, particularly the presidency in America, which is limited to a four-year term. In contrast, he suggests that journalism holds a more enduring power, as it continuously influences and governs public discourse, opinions, and the political landscape, thus having a lasting impact on society and culture.

Themes

PresidentJournalismPowerGovernanceInfluence

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech about media freedom, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of journalism.

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

Al Qaeda is nothing more than a mutant supply chain. They're playing off the same platform as Wal-Mart and Dell. They're just not restrained by it. What is al Qaeda? It's an open source religious political movement that works off the global supply chain. That's what we're up against in Iraq. We're up against a suicide supply chain.
Thomas FriedmanRead
NATO was constructed on the - with the reason, whether one believes it or not, that it was going to defend Western Europe from Russian assault. Once the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was beginning to collapse, that reason was gone. So, first question: why does NATO exist?
Noam ChomskyRead
Voting rights are preservative of all other rights.
Raphael WarnockRead
The [Israelis] believed - they were possessed of an absolute certainty and conviction - that 'terrorists' were in Chatila. How could I explain to them that the terrorists had left, that the terrorists had worn Israeli uniforms, that the terrorists had been sent into Chatila by Israeli officers, that the victims of the terrorists were not Israelis but Palestinians and Lebanese?
Robert FiskRead
The State is the altar of political freedom and, like the religious altar, it is maintained for the purpose of human sacrifice.
Emma GoldmanRead
Democracy cannot be static. Whatever is static is dead.
Eleanor RooseveltRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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

Quote by Oscar Wilde | QuoteProject