Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the nature of perception and the impact of alcohol on our view of reality.
Oscar Wilde's quote explores the progression of perception influenced by alcohol consumption. Initially, drinking can distort our wishes and desires, leading us to see an idealized version of reality. As consumption increases, perception can become more delusional, causing us to perceive things that don't exist. Ultimately, in a sober state, we confront the often harsh and uncomfortable truths of reality, which Wilde suggests can be a disheartening experience.
Themes
PerceptionRealityAlcoholTruthHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
During a toast at a wedding, to highlight the power of love and perception.
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
You don’t question Providence. If you can’t have the reality, a dream is just as good.
Ray BradburyRead
The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.
Benjamin HoffRead
Gratitude is a flower that blooms in noble souls.
Pope FrancisRead
If you trade your authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.
Bren BrownRead
He could not construct for the child's pleasure the world he'd lost without constructing the loss as well and he thought perhaps the child had known this better than he.
Cormac MccarthyRead
Perfection is a stick with which to beat the possible.
Rebecca SolnitRead