Named source · 1894

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“The old believe everything: the middle-aged suspect everything: the young know everything.”

Oscar Wilde · Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young · 1894

The epigram compresses three stereotypes of certainty into one balanced joke, mocking credulity, suspicion, and youthful overconfidence at once.

Source note: “Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young,” first published in The Chameleon in 1894.

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