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on April 1st 1897, Oscar Wilde penned a note to his friend Robert Ross. Wilde was unhappy because Ross had ignored the guidance specified in a previous note:

"You should have seen that my wishes were carried out. You were very wrong not to do so. I was quite helpless in prison and I relied on you. You thought that the thing to do was the clever thing, the smart thing, the ingenious thing. You were under a mistake.

Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing. Look at the result! Are you pleased with it?"
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nobody 1y ago

cos out of context that quote means fuck all.

in context it means: if your friend is in prison & gives you instructions to carry out on their behalf => see that you do so to the letter if you accept the task.

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nobody 1y ago

Thanks for adding the context. The quote can also be understood as some kind of universal truth.

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nobody 1y ago

sure. but devoid of the context in which it was written. a letter. with a specific purpose. to a specific person. ya might as well not attribute it to him or add the year. as in, what was the point of the attribution then?