Stephen Fry

People whose desire is solely for self-realization never know where they're going.

They can't know.

In one sense of the word, it is of course necessary, as the Greek oracle said, to know oneself.

That is the first achievement of knowledge.

But to recognize that the soul of a man is unknowable is the ultimate achievement of wisdom.

The final mystery is oneself.

When one has weighed the sun in the balance and measured the steps of the moon and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself.

Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

When the sun went out to look for his father's asses, he did not know that a man of God was waiting for him with the very chrism of coronation.

and that his own soul was already the soul of a king.

Just remind ourselves again.

It's so wonderful, that, though, isn't it?

Absolutely.

The self-realisation issue, and it's as modern as any thought anyone ever had.

No, I think a logician might say post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Because what happened afterwards happened, it must have been because of that moment.

It's undoubtedly true that the importance of being earnest will always be held up to be the only Victorian play

written at a time when more theatres were built anywhere in the world, in London alone, and yet only one masterpiece from that entire long reign exists, and that is the importance of being earned.

It is utterly flawless, and we would still be celebrating that play if the fellow had died like Conan Doyle in the 30s or 40s or something, had a large waistcoat and a gold watch and was Sir Oscar.

We would still worship that play, but