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A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

Literature

The story behind the card

Lord Darlington says this in Act 3 of Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), as a group of men talk in his rooms. Cecil Graham asks what a cynic is, gets this answer, and fires back that a sentimentalist sees an absurd value in everything but doesn't know the market price of any single thing. The Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) also gave the thought to Lord Henry in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray: people nowadays, he says, know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Türkçe oku
Sinik, her şeyin fiyatını bilen ama hiçbir şeyin değerini bilmeyen insandır.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere'in Yelpazesi

Lady Windermere'in Yelpazesi'nin (1892) üçüncü perdesinde, Lord Darlington'ın evinde bir grup erkek sohbet etmektedir. Cecil Graham sinik insanın ne olduğunu sorar, Darlington da bu cevabı verir. Graham lafı hemen yapıştırır: Duygusal insan ise her şeye saçma bir değer biçen ama hiçbir şeyin piyasa fiyatını bilmeyen kişidir. İrlandalı yazar Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) aynı düşünceyi Dorian Gray'in Portresi romanında Lord Henry'ye de söyletir: Bugün insanlar her şeyin fiyatını biliyor, ama hiçbir şeyin değerini bilmiyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Oscar Wilde
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