Oscar Wilde is like an iceberg, and I barely scratch the surface…
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde
I read Oscar Wilde’s most famous work, The Picture of Dorian Gray something like 15 or 20 years ago. The novel had escaped my attention somehow until then, and I don’t have anything especially insightful to say about Wilde as an author today. I’m not much of a literary critic it seems.
They’ve promised that dreams can come true – but forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too.
Oscar Wilde
I’ll be honest, I probably didn’t give The Picture of Dorian Gray a fair reading, I know it’s considered to be a classic novel. The concept behind it certainly was quite inventive, so maybe I’ll have to give it another read.
Having looked my own mortality in the face, I might have a different perspective on a book about mortality…
I know my opinion of Wilde has changed over time. The more I’ve learned about Oscar Wilde, the more I’ve grown to appreciate the man.
It seems, he has a say about dreams too.
Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
Oscar Wilde
And, he seems to have something to say to thru-hiking individuals who aspire to be, and/or individuals who are hiker dirtbags.
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
Oscar Wilde
Now here’s an interesting quote…
You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.
Oscar Wilde
That is me.
During my midlife hiatus from backpacking I’d like to think I lived out many of those sins, my own Wilde dreams…
Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
Oscar Wilde
Amen!
Suddenly it occurred to me, How splendid it would be, if I was saying all this about myself. I saw then at once that what is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it.
Oscar Wilde
That previous quote was Wilde, commenting on his own trial for gross indecency.
Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.
Oscar Wilde
Did I already say, “Amen!”? I should have held that word back just a little longer for this. Strangely enough, my Mother used that quote, although I doubt she knew it’s source…
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oscar Wilde
This quote I understand, mostly because I worked in politics, I’ve known people who weren’t happy unless they were being talked about…
All art is to a certain degree a mode of acting.
Oscar Wilde
I think Wilde was an incredible observer of his fellow human beings and an astute judge of human nature.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Oscar Wilde
I’ve known a few folks like that, that caused happiness whenever they would go rather than wherever. I’d like to think I have excised those folks from my life. Being a bit of a loner, I’ve probably removed a lot of healthy tissue around the cancer, if you allow me the metaphor, but I made 100% sure the cancer had been removed.
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
This one seems to be somewhat universal. Every existing generation seems to find fault with following generations.
Values change, just as prices do. I try to remember that when I’m with my son, I don’t want him to feel judged the same way I felt judgement from my parents.
I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.
Oscar Wilde
I actually think this was my outlook too, for most of my life. You should probably ask one of my past partners for confirmation, but that is my best guess.
I looked over at girl, read that quote to her, and asked if that described her Monster, me! She immediately agreed, not a second of hesitation. That’s Monster!
Men always want to be a woman’s first love – women like to be a man’s last romance.
Oscar Wilde
Would “impertinent” be a good word to describe Oscar Wilde? I think it fits him well.
I asked an artificial intelligence to describe Wilde in a single word. Here is the response…
That’s a tough question, as Oscar Wilde was a complex and multifaceted personality. He was a brilliant writer, a witty conversationalist, a flamboyant dresser, a social critic, a scandalous lover, and a tragic figure. If I had to choose one word, I might say he was aesthetic. He was a leader of the Aesthetic movement in England, which advocated art for art’s sake, and he expressed his philosophy of beauty and pleasure in his works and his life. He once said, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
Bing Chat GPT AI
One last ‘word’ from Wilde?
Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and rebellion.
Oscar Wilde
