Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Now that the House of Commons is trying to become useful, it does a great deal of harm.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wilde suggests that even efforts to be useful can sometimes lead to negative outcomes.
Oscar Wilde's quote reflects the irony often found in political processes, where the attempts of institutions like the House of Commons to enact positive change can inadvertently result in harm. This statement critiques the notion that good intentions alone lead to beneficial results, highlighting the complexity of political actions and their unintended consequences.
Themes
PoliticsGovernmentIronyIntentionConsequences
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on political reform, one could quote Wilde to illustrate the unintended consequences of government actions.
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
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The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.
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