Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Beauty is a form of Genius--is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty transcends intellect and explanation, embodying a universal truth that is inherently valuable.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde emphasizes that beauty holds a unique power and significance that surpasses mere intelligence or genius. He suggests that beauty is a fundamental truth of existence, likening it to natural phenomena that need no justification and possess a sovereign quality that elevates those who embody it to a status akin to royalty. Through the expression of beauty, individuals can achieve a profound connection with the world, making it an ineffable and essential element of life.
Themes
BeautyGeniusTruthArtNature
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the power of art, one might use this quote to highlight the significance of beauty in creative expression.
More from Oscar Wilde
All quotes →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
Through my art I have tried to explain my life and its meaning. I have also intended to help others to clarify their lives.
Edvard MunchRead
A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
Salman RushdieRead
When writing, I'm not thinking about war, even if I'm writing about it. I'm thinking about sentences, rhythm and story. So the focus, when I'm working, even if it's on a story that takes place at war, is not on bombs or bullets. It's on the story.
Tim O'BrienRead
I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.
Diane ArbusRead
The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle.
Joan DidionRead
I believe that a good comic script can succeed despite being drawn badly, but that a bad script can't be saved by good art. Of course, great writing and great illustration makes for a great comic 100 percent of the time.
Ryan NorthRead