Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name we gave… — Oscar Wilde · Skopia

← Back to quotes

Novel · Magazine

Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name we gave to our mistakes.

The Picture of Dorian Gray · 1890

★ 3.8

Other tags relating to this quote

Topic

Learning from experience Learning from mistakes

Medium

Time

Person

Provenance

Current citation

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray, edited by Robert Mighall. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 4.

Original citation

Wilde, Oscar. "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Philadelphia, July 1890, ch. 3.

Related quotes

Other quotes that share a subject, a time, or a voice with this one.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World · 1897

Another quote aboutTopic·Learning from experience

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell · 1793

Another quote aboutTopic·Learning from mistakes

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

Mostly Harmless · 1992

Another quote aboutTopic·Learning from mistakes

To recognise that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

De Profundis · 1897

Another quote byPerson·Oscar Wilde

The curves of your lips rewrite history.

The Picture of Dorian Gray · 1891

Another quote byPerson·Oscar Wilde