QuoteProject
The study of law is sublime, and its practice vulgar.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Law has a noble and profound study, but its practice can often become mundane and unrefined.

Oscar Wilde's quote reflects the dual nature of law, suggesting that while the theoretical study of law can be elevated and majestic, the practical application often devolves into a commonplace and unremarkable endeavor. This commentary highlights the contrast between the ideals of legal principles and the reality of legal practice, inviting contemplation on the nature of professions and the experiences within them.

Themes

LawStudyPracticeSublimeVulgarPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on legal ethics, a professor might use this quote to illustrate the gap between legal theory and practice.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
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

It is perfectly possible to be enamoured of Paris while remaining totally indifferent or even hostile to the French.
James A. BaldwinRead
It's possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way.
Karl MarxRead
The American press exists for one purpose only, and that is to convince Americans that they are living in the greatest and most envied country in the history of the world. The Press tells the American people how awful every other country is and how wonderful the United States is and how evil communism is and how happy they should be to have freedom to buy seven different sorts of detergent.
Gore VidalRead
Any genuine philosophy leads to action and from action back again to wonder, to the enduring fact of mystery.
Henry MillerRead
The footnote would seem to be the smallest detail in a work of history. Yet it carries a large burden of responsibility, testifying to the validity of the work, the integrity (and the humility) of the historian, and to the dignity of the discipline.
Gertrude HimmelfarbRead
When you become an instrument in God's hands as He transfers someone from the realm of darkness into the kingdom of His Son, you make a difference in the person's eternal destiny. Not only that, but Satan also receives a devastating blow.
Charles StanleyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Oscar Wilde | QuoteProject