Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights a woman's attempt to cope with despair through superficial means such as makeup and clothing.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde observes a woman who has applied excessive makeup but is underdressed, suggesting that her external appearance is a reflection of inner turmoil or despair. It implies that when people feel low or despondent, they may resort to exaggerated or desperate attempts to present themselves in a different light, often as a mask to conceal their true feelings.
Themes
DespairMakeupAppearanceWomanEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about self-image and mental health, this quote can illustrate how appearance can mask deeper issues.
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.
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
You can call happy those who saw Him... But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you like Mary Most Holy.
Saint John ChrysostomRead
Everyman is thoroughly happy twice in his life, just after he has met his first love, and just after he has left his last one.
H. L. MenckenRead
Deep in earth my love is lying And I must weep alone.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
Our love was born outside the walls, in the wind, in the night, in the earth, and that's why the clay and the flower, the mud and the roots know your name.
Pablo NerudaRead
The pleasures of love are pains that become desirable, where sweetness and torment blend, and so love is voluntary insanity, infernal paradise, and celestial hell - in short, harmony of opposite yearnings, sorrowful laughter, soft diamond.
Umberto EcoRead
Being gay is like glitter, it never goes away.
Lady GagaRead