Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Well, I don't like your clothes. You look perfectly ridiculous in them. Why on earth don't you go up and change? It's perfectly childish to be in mourning for a man who is actually staying a whole week with you in your house as a guest. I call it grotesque.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the absurdity of mourning someone's presence rather than appreciating their company.
In this quote, Oscar Wilde humorously observes the irrationality of being overly somber about a person's visit, suggesting that it is foolish to mourn someone who is actively present. He emphasizes the importance of embracing joy and levity in social interactions rather than adopting a melancholic demeanor in the face of companionship, thus highlighting the inconsistencies in human behavior and the need for a lighter perspective on life.
Themes
MourningAbsurdityJoyCompanionshipCritique
In practice
Example use cases
During a toast at a gathering, to encourage a light-hearted atmosphere.
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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