In September 1890 an essay by Wilde titled “The True Function and Value of Criticism” was published in the London periodical “The Nineteenth Century”. The phrase “be yourself” in the quotation under investigation is comparable to “being natural”, and here Wilde playfully reversed the conventional notion. “Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know,” cried Lord Henry, laughing. “You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During one scene the character Basil Hallward criticized his friend Lord Henry who responded with humor: 1890 July, Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Start, Quote, Published by J. The central thesis of the novel was the disjunction between the outward appearance of an individual and his or her internal thoughts and feelings. In July 1890 Oscar Wilde published “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in “Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine”. In some such way as this we could gather up these strewn and scattered petals of song into one perfect rose of life, and yet, perhaps, in so doing, we might be missing the true quality of the poems one’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead and beautiful poems, like threads of beautiful silks, may be woven into many patterns and to suit many designs, all wonderful and all different… Boldface has been added: 1882, Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf, Verses by James Rennell Rodd (1st Baron Rennell), With an Introduction by Oscar Wilde, L’Envoi (Introduction), Start, Quote and 24, J. In 1882 Oscar Wilde wrote an introduction to a collection of verse and while discussing principles of aesthetics he broached the topic of “one’s real life”. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. Oscar Wilde did write several remarks about identity and appearance that were thematically related to this quotation, but the perspective was different. Barkhuis Subject: Re: comleet systeem, (Google Groups Search Accessed … Continue reading The statement was enclosed in quotation marks signaling that it was already in circulation also, no attribution was specified: 1999 December 27, Usenet discussion message, Newsgroups: nl.p, dds.markt, nl.markt.overig, From: Erick T. The words were appended to the end of a message posted to a newsgroup used primarily by residents of the Netherlands. The first strong match located by QI was disseminated via the Usenet discussion system in December 1999. Many thanks to adept researcher Bodhipaksa who told QI about this citation. It may have facilitated the later construction of the quotation. The “Day of a Stranger” essay was reprinted multiple times in anthologies, journals, and collections. Interestingly, Merton cautioned against self-consciously trying to be oneself. Merton humorously stated that there was “very little chance of my being anybody else”, whereas the quotation under examination offered a different comical rationale: “everyone else is already taken”, but the crux was similar. Rather it seems to me that when one is too intent on “being himself” he runs the risk of impersonating a shadow. In an age where there is much talk about “being yourself” I reserve to myself the right to forget about being myself, since in any case there is very little chance of my being anybody else. (JSTOR) link 1991, Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master: The Essential Writings by Thomas Merton, Edited by Lawrence Cunningham, Day of a Stranger, Start, Quote, Paulist Press, New York. The influential spiritual thinker and mystic Thomas Merton published an essay titled “Day of a Stranger” which referred to “being yourself”: 1967 Summer, The Hudson Review, Volume 20, Number 2, Day of a Stranger by Thomas Merton, Start, Quote, Hudson Review, Inc., New York. The earliest compelling thematic match known to QI appeared in the literary journal “The Hudson Review” in 1967. 1996, The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde, Edited by Ralph Keyes, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. It is not listed in “The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde”, an extensive collection compiled by quotation expert Ralph Keyes. Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Oscar Wilde made this remark. Oscar Wilde? Thomas Merton? Gilbert Perreira? Menards? America Ferrera? Apocryphal? Anonymous?ĭear Quote Investigator: I have spent hours trying to determine whether Oscar Wilde wrote the following as commonly claimed:īe yourself.
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