wilde thoughts

Oh … Oscar.

As in Wilde.

Oscar Wilde turns 160 this year.

But his quotes live on.

Well.

Not just his quotes … his thoughts.

His quotes tend to be simply delightfully cynical sharp insightful truths into Life.

Yeah.

As for what he actually wrote.

I have tried reading Wilde until my eyes fell out in pain … but the man knew how to take an individual thought and put it into succinct, witty, paradoxical sayings maybe better than anyone else who has ever lived.

Anyway.

In honor of his birthday I will use some of his quotes and share some thoughts on several things.

–          Life

In general Oscar was brilliant … if not simply a genius with words when driven by his disdain for society in general … but especially those obsessed by appearance … and appearances.  And he absolutely abhorred those indifferent to imagination.

But.

Where I have found his genius is in how he so simply suggests that the difference between the haves & the have nots, the difference between the optimists & the pessimists, the difference between the hopeful & the hopeless … is a very very fine line.

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

“You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all of the sins you have never had the courage to commit.” – Lord Henry in The Picture of Dorian Grey.

“Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.” – Phrases and Philosophies For The Use Of The Young

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” – Lady Windermere’s Fan

Ok.

We draw some fine and beautiful distinctions between people as we talk about each other.

And it is bothersome.

We talk about people as being lazy or entitled or abusers of the system.

We talk about people as being greedy or ambitious <to a fault> or vain.

We talk about sinners and saints.

Oh.

If only it were that simple.

Is it possible that all of us simply reside in the gutter … and some of us simply look at the stars?

That’s the thought of the day.

If more of us just assumed we lived in the gutter of Life maybe more of us would see how important the stars were to everyone.

–          Business

“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”

“My own business always bores me to death, I prefer other people’s.”

“I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.”

Well.

This seems topical for the days we seem to be in.

It appears to me that our answer to everything associated with ‘not going right’ <and there are degrees spanning from cataclysmic to simply aggravating> in today’s business world is to fire someone.

It’s as if we have never made a mistake ourselves. We say and think things like:

               “My own mistakes bore me … I prefer to skewer other’s.”

I have gobs of business experience.

And gobs of mistakes.

But that’s not the point.

Most of my experience and success, quite frankly, was built not off my mistakes but rather other’s mistakes and my successes … or let’s say my ‘ability to fix things’ <history is written by the victor I imagine are the words I am seeking>.

My mistakes certainly didn’t bore me <although they were aggravating> … they taught me personal responsibility.

Therefore while other’s invested energy skewering other’s mistakes … I went ahead and fixed them.

Mine and theirs.

Regardless.

Firing people because they make a mistake drives me nuts. I assume it would drive Oscar nuts <oops … he did go nuts …>.

We make things complex in business.

Shit.

Ok.

Business is often complex.

And yet whenever we face a problem or an issue or a mistake … we treat it as if it were simple.

What’s up with that?

Let’s face it.

Experience in business is relative. Just because you have done something doesn’t mean you are good at it. in fact … the best experience isn’t successes but what we have earned from mistakes.

Oops.

How the fuck do you put THAT on a resume and get a job? <you cannot>

All I know for sure is that I have a well loved list of mistakes I have made in business.

All I know for sure is the best people I have managed have a well loved list of mistakes they have made in business.

Are we successful? Yes.

Figure that Life equation out.

–          Imagination

Ah.

Wilde bookended his life and career with some fantastically profound and meaningful  thoughts with regard to imagination.

And as you ponder these thoughts you should remember that Wilde was a relatively cynical man.

As it happens with many people … the birth of his children affected him. In his case it seems to have regenerated Wilde as a writer.

Well.

At least it seemed to make him understand that imagination is ageless.

Wilde’s children’s stories are spectacular.

Now.

Remember that fairytales always involve reversals of fortune <sorry to uncover a fairytale secret>.

It can work in both directions … beggars become kings … and palaces are replaced by  pauper-like abodes.

I imagine Wilde’s own reversal of fortune from fame and money to destitution and exile almost mirrors a fairytale.

Fairytales are also and always about transformation of various kinds – frogs into princes, coal into gold – and while typically either moralistic or embedded with a moral … there is typically a happy ending.

Ah. But Oscar had to do his fairy tales differently.

Wilde’s fairytale transformations typically turn on loss.

The true twist?

But loss was most typically tied to a lack of imagination.

Is this a lesson too adult for children?

Shit. I don’t know.

I often believe fairy tales are as much for the teller as the reader.

Ok.

In the end.

Oscar had a gift for words.

And while I am sure he knew what he was doing … sometimes those who are so gifted in this way don’t really know what they are doing.

“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.” (The Remarkable Rocket)

I tend to believe those of us who use words … well … we worry a lot … we worry we are too clever that no one understands a word we say.

Yet.

We embrace the beauty of wordsmanship so much we cannot envision communicating a thought in some bland black & white prose.

I end there … simply to suggest that when you are writing, and a writer, and you get it right.

When someone is inspired to think.

Well … there is nothing better in the world.

Unfortunately. It doesn’t happen often.

More often than not no one knows what the heel you are saying … but that one moment?

That’s it.

That’s when you are not too clever but have made some impact.

And that is what Oscar Wilde was so good at.

Using words to make people think.