Welcome back to the quote of the day series. Today's quote is a very important one because it deals with the question of
morality, one which people have been grappling with for centuries. This quote makes a stab at answering it, and in this abstract I will attempt to explain how. And now for this already imfamous quote:
morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.
- Oscar Wilde
I'm sure just by reading this you can that this quote is very simple and profound. I don't know about you, but I've always thought that the most profound things said in human history have been brief, usually only a sentence, but I digress. Onto the meaning of this quote:
This quote clearly tells those people in the world who have active moral consciences, which, despite what some think, is pretty much everyone, that morality, although it is a very effective tool for guidance, can only be applied to the broader concepts of life. What I mean by that is this:
Since morals are very strict (as they should be) it's just far too dangerous for them to be applied to everything. Take, for example, the seraration of of church and state. While the church, at least according to some people, can be a very positive influence on one's life, acting as a guiding force with the purpose to distinguish right from wrong, the stricness of the morals laid down by the church, if applied to every aspect of one's life, can severely limit one's personal rights and
freedoms and, as it has been shown throughout world history, actually threaten the lives of many, many people. While morality can, and should, be listened to and followed as much as possible, remember that morality only applies as a principle when it's not taking away the freedoms, liberties, or happiness of others. This is what Oscar Wilde meant by drawing a line.
For those of you who do not know, Oscar Wilde was a famous American playwright of the latter nineteenth century, and one of my favorites.
I hope I've explained this quote to your satisfaction. This was a tough one, if only because it is so broad and covers so much. I'll see you tomorrow when we discover yet another pearl of wisdom in an unexpected place.