Quote by Oscar Wilde
Up to the present man has hardly cultivated sympathy at all. He has merely sympathy with pain, and sympathy with pain is not the highest form of sympathy. All sympathy is fine, but sympathy with suffering is the least fine mode. It is tainted with egotism. It is apt to become morbid. There is in it a certain element of terror for our own safety. We become afraid that we ourselves might be as the leper or as the blind, and that no man would have care of us. It is curiously limiting, too. One should sympathise with the entirety of life, not with life's sores and maladies merely, but with life's joy and beauty and energy and health and freedom.
Summary
This quote suggests that man's cultivation of sympathy has been limited and focused primarily on sympathy with pain and suffering. However, the quote argues that this is not the highest and purest form of sympathy. Sympathy with suffering often stems from self-centered concerns about our own well-being, and it can even become obsessive and unhealthy. Instead, the quote proposes that true sympathy should extend to all aspects of life, including its joy, beauty, energy, health, and freedom. This broader view of sympathy encourages a more complete and compassionate understanding and engagement with the world.
By Oscar Wilde
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