Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
the costume of the nineteenth century is detestable. It is so sombre, so depressing. Sin is the only real colour-element left in modern life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Oscar Wilde critiques the dreariness of 19th-century fashion and implies that sin brings vibrancy to life.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde expresses his disdain for the dullness and gloominess of 19th-century attire, suggesting that societal norms have stripped life of its colors and vibrancy. He provocatively claims that the only real 'color' in modern life comes from sin, implying that moral transgressions add a certain richness and complexity that is otherwise missing in a conformist society.
Themes
CostumeNineteenth CenturySinColorModern Life
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about fashion history, one might quote Wilde to illustrate the cultural shifts in aesthetics.
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.
Oscar WildeRead
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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