Source identified1
“I can resist everything except temptation.”
The paradox makes weakness sound like strength and exposes how easily people invent exceptions to their own principles.
Source note: Lady Windermere’s Fan.
Lady Windermere’s Fan Quotes by Oscar Wilde: Context & Meanings
4 quotations linked to Lady Windermere’s Fan by or associated with Oscar Wilde, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
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4 quotations with source context and meaning
Source identified2
“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”
The epigram turns a flattering word into a comic rebrand for error, suggesting that experience often arrives only after something has gone wrong.
Source note: Lady Windermere’s Fan; a characteristic Wildean epigram linking experience and mistakes.
Source identified3
“Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.”
Wilde uses deliberate contradiction to suggest that solemnity is not the only way to take life seriously.
Source note: Lady Windermere’s Fan.
Source identified4
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
The line contrasts difficult circumstances with the direction of attention, leaving room for aspiration without denying hardship.
Source note: Act 3.