Oscar Wilde Cynic Quote: A cynic knows the price of everything is a wonderful quote by Oscal Wilde about the meaning of being a cynic. It just makes us introspect a little and identify whether the value of being a cynic gives us many valuable returns? If so, is such a behaviour required for us to carry on with our lives?
As we explore these thoughts further, the meaning of being a cynic delves into identifying what your values are. Being a cynic can be very useful on some occasions and hurtful on others. Can we use this ability in such a way that it can benefit our personality style and life? I believe it is in this mix where the value of these quotes become more pronounced. I like this Oscar Wilde cynic quote for specifically that reason.
A cynic knows the price of everything and
To understand the meaning of this segment, I’d go back to the bare basics of the meaning of a cynic. Some of the common meanings of being a cynic are:
- A person constantly in doubt about everything good or bad that happens to him/her or the people around him/her: Can you think what that makes you feel about every good deed? If you’re trying to find out why people did something or for their own selfish interest, don’t you miss on enjoying something done out of love or affection? However, the cynicism does help you to identify if someone really is trying to take advantage of you. However, it needs to be a fair balance between that and not being totally corrupted by the thought of self interest.
- A cynic is a person who believes that people are motivated purely by self interest and nothing else: Perhaps people are motivated by self interest and maybe there’s nothing wrong in that. What if this self interest is about the kinder emotions of generosity, kindness and love? Does cynicism allow for these emotions to be consumed without any judgement against them?
- A person who believes that people are solely interested in themselves and their base desires alone and nothing else: This definition of cynic ties you back to that feeling that people are constantly looking to get something out of you. Makes you want to think about why they are doing something. (Source)
In general, I don’t see many problems with the Oscar Wilde cynic quote because it points to the above definitions. These are clearly indicating the position of finding the price of something. A cynic knows the price of everything and is motivated by these thoughts.
The difficulty however is that this trains you to look at the negatives before you can appreciate the positive side of this trait. It makes you ignore all the nice things for the moment because your mind might be busy finding why people are being nice. If there’s no apparent reason, maybe there’s a machiavellian plan behind that which rattles the brain even further.
Oscar Wilde value of nothing
The most important part of this quote is in differentiating between the meaning of price and value. Price is a tangible affair – easily calculated in the form of money. However, value is something deeper – intangible and how it influences your personality.
For instance, the value of a kind action can be the smile it brings to your face. It might just be about that.
What about gratitude, the feeling of thankfulness. How do you balance cynicism or the price of something like that?
As you can see, we can easily start moving into areas that are much harder to define. The most important thing about some of these emotions is that they are pure and without any purpose. The purpose is purely for a kind act. It reminds me of some of Mother Teresa quotes about love, selflessness and kindness. Cynicism is a good mechanism we’ve built to protect our emotions from being taken advantage of.
It helps us review our experiences and decide whether we let them affect us. The onus is on us to create a balance so that cynicism doesn’t take over our ability to experience these other emotions which can be magical in making life a wonderful existence.
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing
Oscar Wilde (Source)
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Oscar Wilde’s quote explained very nicely and interestingly. We have many cynics around us. Thanks..
Very true! The quotation of Oscar Wilde makes it crystal clear and you have further elaborated nicely on the topic. We do find a lot of cynics around who know the price of everything but the value.
Good post Vinay.
Vinay…spare a moment on this one by George Bernard Shaw
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw
Yess!!! This one is with a punch.
I would say that we are all motivated by self interest – only there is a wide range of how one defines self interest. Self interest need not always be at the cost of others.
Someone may feel good by giving, and hence think that to give is in his/her self interest, while someone may feel that it is in his/her interest only to get while depriving others.
‘Çynics’ are the later category who always put a price tag while remaining closed to the intangibles.
The quote of Oscar Wilde says it all! I really have an abhorrence towards cynicism…I mean we have so many things to think over and do in life, what’s the point demeaning everything and everyone?
I never thought over the Cynic aspect this intensely. Thanks for sharing Vinay! :)