Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the complexity of honesty in relationships, particularly when addressing societal expectations of women.
Oscar Wilde's quote points to the delicate balance between truth and social niceties, suggesting that outright honesty may not always be appropriate, especially when dealing with societal expectations regarding women. It reflects a critique of how gender norms can influence communication and behavior in relationships, implying that the truth requires careful consideration of context and the feelings of others.
Themes
TruthRelationshipsSocietyGenderCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about honesty in romantic relationships.
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.
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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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