I want to put a Oscar Wilde qoute on my wall. I have only found it in Swedish. Does anyone know the real qoute in English? When I translated the Swedish version on Google translate it came up with this:
"I believe that man's primary goal in life is to realize oneself. Making oneself through pleasure is finer than doing it through torture."
Thank you so much!
The closest I can find is -
The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for.
from 'Lady Windermere's Fan' I believe
H
H
If nothing else it made me read "Lady Windermere's Fan" again which was enjoyable. Your unnerving instinct I felt was correct, but I'm not sure if I have managed to pin it down to that book.
Nearest I could come to the query from Pet was:
Lord Darlington. "But there are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life, fully, entirely, completely - or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands."
An oblique option might be:
Lord Darlington again: "No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Hi,
thank you both for all the help. The qoute is supposed to have the same meaning as what I wrote earlier. Maybe I can use a good translation of it on my wall? If I translate it myself it goes like this:
"I believe that man's primary goal in life is to realize oneself. Realizing oneself through pleasure is more noble than doing it through pain."
Does it sound good in English? how would you phrase it?
Thanks again!
Your translation sounds authentic enough to have been spoken by Wilde
and on further checking - the quote I suggested is also (?) attributed to him in an article he wrote in 'O Magazine'. Not much help I'm afraid - but there are loads of websites listing his quotes (but very few give the source)
H
Then that it will be!Thank You for all your help!
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