---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I remember talking once on this subject…"
description: "\"“I remember talking once on this subject to one of the most beautiful personalities I have ever known: a woman, whose sympathy and noble kindness to me..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba1/oscar-wilde-16_beauty_i-remember-talking-once-on-this-subject_42172.jpg"
---

#  I remember talking once on this subject to one of the most…

![“I remember talking once on this subject to one of the most beautiful personalities I have ever known: a woman, whose sympathy and noble kindness to me, both before and since the tragedy of my imprisonment, have been beyond power and description; one who has really assisted me, though she does not…” quote by Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba1/oscar-wilde-16_beauty_i-remember-talking-once-on-this-subject_42172.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba1/oscar-wilde-16_beauty_i-remember-talking-once-on-this-subject_42172.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba1/oscar-wilde-16_beauty_i-remember-talking-once-on-this-subject_42172.jpg)

> ““I remember talking once on this subject to one of the most beautiful personalities I have ever known: a woman, whose sympathy and noble kindness to me, both before and since the tragedy of my imprisonment, have been beyond power and description; one who has really assisted me, though she does not know it, to bear the burden of my troubles more than any one else in the whole world has, and all through the mere fact of her existence, through her being what she is - partly an ideal and partly an influence: a suggestion of what one might become as well as a real help towards becoming it; a soul that renders the common air sweet, and makes what is spiritual seem as simple and natural as sunlight or the sea: one for whom beauty and sorrow walk hand in hand, and have the same message. On the occasion of which I am thinking I recall distinctly how I said to her that there was enough suffering in one narrow London lane to show that God did not love man, and that wherever there was any sorrow, though but that of a child, in some little garden weeping over a fault that it had or had not committed, the whole face of creation was completely marred. I was entirely wrong. She told me so, but I could not believe her. I was not in the sphere in which such belief was to be attained to. Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world.””

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The speaker reflects on how love, embodied by a compassionate woman, reframes suffering from a sign of divine neglect to a catalyst for personal growth and meaning.

**In simple terms:** Love reinterprets suffering as purposeful.

Key Takeaway

Love gives suffering meaning.

Themes

love suffering spiritual growth compassion meaning-making

Mood

reflective hopeful melancholic

Type

philosophical personal testimony

When to use this quote

- grieving after loss
- navigating personal tragedy
- seeking purpose in hardship
- experiencing profound compassion

Key Concepts

theodicy human empathy personal transformation

Practical Applications

- Therapeutic counseling
- Philosophical writing on suffering

Questions to Reflect On

- How does love change our perception of pain?
- Can suffering ever be fully transformed by compassion?

A Different Perspective

Some argue suffering is inherent to existence, not necessarily mitigated by love.

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[Beautiful person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful-person/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Hand in hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hand-in-hand/) [Kindness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kindness/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Sympathy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sympathy/) [Whole world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-world/)

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