Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
I must say to myself that I ruined myself, and that nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand. I am quite ready to say so. ... Terrible as was what the world did to me, what I did to myself was far more terrible still.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We are often our own worst enemies and the architects of our downfall.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde reflects on the idea that personal accountability is paramount in our lives. He acknowledges that while external forces may cause harm, the true devastation often comes from our own actions and decisions. This introspection emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and understanding how one's choices can lead to significant consequences.
Themes
AccountabilitySelf-DestructionConsequencesIntrospectionSelf-Awareness
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech on personal growth, this quote can inspire people to take responsibility for their actions.
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
The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.
C. S. LewisRead
My father always told me that in this world we are going to make a truckload of mistakes, but the best mistake we can ever make is to err on the side of mercy
Joan BauerRead
I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
Albert EinsteinRead
I have found it very important...to let go of my wishes and start hoping.
Henri NouwenRead
Experiences aren't given to us to be 'got over,' otherwise they would hardly be experiences.
Penelope FitzgeraldRead
Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think what else it might be.
Roger Von OechRead