Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
For a year after that was done to me I wept every day at the same hour and for the same space of time. That is not such a tragic thing as possibly it sounds to you. To those who are in prison tears are a part of every day's experience. A day in prison on which one does not weep is a day on which one's heart is hard, not a day on which one's heart is happy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Expressing sorrow in a confined situation can be a way to remain emotionally connected to one's humanity.
Oscar Wilde reflects on his experience in prison, highlighting that crying is a natural response to suffering and incarceration. He suggests that tears signify empathy and emotional vulnerability, contrasting the notion that not crying would indicate strength or happiness, when in truth, it could signify emotional numbness or hardness of heart.
Themes
TearsPrisonEmotionsSufferingVulnerability
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about overcoming adversity, this quote can remind us that expressing emotions is important.
More from Oscar Wilde
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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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