QuoteProject
Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Disobedience is essential for progress and is viewed as a virtue.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde emphasizes the importance of disobedience as a catalyst for progress and innovation throughout history. He posits that rather than viewing disobedience as a flaw or wrongdoing, it should be recognized as a fundamental virtue that has enabled humanity to challenge existing norms and drive societal advancements through rebellion and critical thinking.

Themes

DisobedienceProgressRebellionVirtueHistory

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about civil rights, one could cite this quote to highlight the importance of standing up against unjust laws.

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

The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America - our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal.
Ronald ReaganRead
There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information - the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.
Noam ChomskyRead
I must try and break through the cliches about Latin America. Superpowers and other outsiders have fought over us for centuries in ways that have nothing to do with our problems. In reality we are all alone.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.
John C. MaxwellRead
No human beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: the great persecutors are recruited from the martyrs not quite beheaded. Far from diminishing the appetite for power, suffering exasperates it.
Emile M. CioranRead
The enduring lesson is war is a disaster. Whoever wins, tremendous loss of life, property - a set back for civilisation.
Lee Kuan YewRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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

Quote by Oscar Wilde | QuoteProject