26 February 2011

"I am not young enough to know everything"

A wonderful quotation from JM Barrie's 1902 play "The Admirable Crichton", spoken by the character Ernest Woolley, who is a satire on the typical Wilde epigram-loving hero.

The quote is based on Wilde's "The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything," from Phrases and Philosophies For the Use of the Young (1894).

A hat tip to an anonymous reader for providing the information above.  The original (mis)information attributing the quote to Wilde came from Born to be Wilde, where the byline is a great quote from Wilde: "I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there."

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 7:54 AM

    It's actually from JM Barrie's 1902 play "The Admirable Crichton", and said by the character Ernest Woolley, who is a satire on the typical Wilde epigram-loving hero.

    It is, however, based on Wilde's "The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything" - from Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young (1894).
    Source(s):
    Google Books http://books.google.co.uk/books?client=f…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MinnesotastanFebruary 20, 2013 at 8:03 AM

      I've amended the post to correct the reference. Thank you so much for helping me monitor/proofread the blog. :.)

      Delete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 7:56 AM

    It's actually from JM Barrie's 1902 play "The Admirable Crichton", and said by the character Ernest Woolley, who is a satire on the typical Wilde epigram-loving hero.

    It is, however, based on Wilde's "The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything" - from Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young (1894).
    Source(s):
    Google Books http://books.google.co.uk/books?client=f…

    ReplyDelete