Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
It's tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man', says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the rarity of individuals truly living authentically and making their own choices.
Oscar Wilde's quote reflects on the tragedy of people not fully realizing or owning their true selves before they pass away. He highlights that most individuals live their lives by imitating others and adopting external thoughts and feelings rather than expressing their genuine identities, suggesting that this lack of authenticity leads to a life unfulfilled and lacking in true meaning.
Themes
AuthenticitySelf-DiscoveryIndividualityLifePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to inspire students to pursue their passions and be true to themselves.
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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