Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Oh, don't cough, Ernest. When one is dictating one should speak fluently and not cough. Besides, I don't know how to spell a cough.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously suggests that a writer's flow should not be interrupted by something as trivial as coughing.
Oscar Wilde cleverly implies that fluency in speech is crucial for effective dictation, using humor to highlight how minor interruptions can disrupt the creative process. He playfully expresses a disdain for distractions, suggesting that even physical interruptions like coughing can hinder the art of writing.
Themes
WritingHumorSpeechCreativityDictation
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a writing workshop to emphasize the importance of maintaining flow while writing.
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.
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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.
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Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
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A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
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His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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