Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Nothing is so aggravating as calmness. There is something positively brutal about the good temper of most modern men.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the irony that calmness can be frustrating, suggesting that an unnaturally good demeanor can feel insincere or oppressive.
Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the nature of calmness and good temper in modern society, suggesting that while these qualities are often seen as virtuous, they can also come across as aggravating or inauthentic. The juxtaposition reveals Wilde's characteristic wit, where he critiques the societal expectation of constant composure, implying that it can mask deeper realities and emotions.
Themes
CalmnessAggravationTemperWitSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the complexities of human emotions.
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
I was in NYC during 9/11; it happened on a Tuesday, I was on stage Thursday. It was a small crowd, but it took about 10 days and comedy clubs were packed.
Bill BurrRead
To watch a football game is to be in a prolonged neurotic doubt as to what you're seeing. It's more like an emergency happening at a distance than a game. I don't wonder the spectators take to drink.
Jacques BarzunRead
I didn't know if I could be funny on stage or write a joke. But I saw that there are no rules. If you're funny offstage, you can figure out a way to be funny onstage.
Kumail NanjianiRead
Some have supposed that the mosquito is of a devout turn, and never will partake of a meal without first saying grace. The devotions of some men are but a preface to blood-sucking.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
There are very few moments in a man's existence when he experiences so much ludicrous distress, or meets with so little charitable commiseration, as when he is in pursuit of his own hat.
Charles DickensRead
Grandma told me Mama was once caught by the Principal for writing in the front of her book, "In Case of Fire, Throw This in First." I have never had so much respect for Mama as the day I heard this.
Erma BombeckRead