Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away. Sometimes this was the effect of art, and chiefly of the art of literature, which dealt immediately with the passions and the intellect.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ordinary individuals wait for life's truths to unfold, while a select few perceive these mysteries early, often through the influence of literature and art.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that while most people passively await the revelations of life, there exists a minority who are more attuned to the deeper truths of existence. This insight, he argues, is frequently accessible through the transformative power of art, particularly literature, which engages with human emotions and intellect. Wilde highlights that art serves as a vehicle for understanding life's complexities and mysteries before they become apparent to the masses.
Themes
ArtLiteratureLifeMysteryTruthPassionIntellect
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a literary festival, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of literature in understanding life.
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.
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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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