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About this quote

What does it mean?
Wilde asserts that the only responsibility to history is to reinterpret it, not merely preserve it.
In plain terms
Our duty to history is to rewrite it.
What can you take from it?
Challenge accepted narratives.

Where it applies

  • academic research
  • political discourse
  • museum curation

Putting it to work

  • re‑examine sources
  • present alternative perspectives

Questions to consider

  • When is rewriting history justified?
  • What risks arise from constant revision?

Another view

Preserving facts is also a vital historical duty.

More from Oscar Wilde

  1. I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood.

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  2. It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection; through art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of ac…

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  3. Oh! journalism is unreadable, and literature is not read.

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