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About this quote

What does it mean?
Wilde darkly jokes that a stillbirth is a cosmic joke, reflecting a grim sense of humor about tragedy.
In plain terms
He treats a tragic loss as a twisted joke.
What can you take from it?
Recognize humor can mask deep pain.

Where it applies

  • grief counseling
  • religious reflection
  • mental health

Putting it to work

  • seek supportive community
  • express emotions healthfully

Questions to consider

  • When is humor appropriate in grief?
  • How does humor affect mourning?

Another view

Such jokes can be insensitive to sufferers.

More from Oscar Wilde

  1. Bigamy is having a wife too many, monogamy is the same.

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  2. My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.

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  3. America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between (also attributed to George Bernard Shaw and Georges Clemencea…

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