About this quote

We often look outward for entertainment, constantly consuming other people's dramas. Oscar Wilde flips this habit on its head and suggests your own life should be the most entertaining spectacle you know. Why live a life so dull that you must look elsewhere for excitement? Keeping a personal record forces you to live more colorfully, if only to give your future self a good laugh. Start writing down your daily absurdities and private thoughts because your own mind is the most interesting place to hang out.

When to use it

• When your friend packs three trashy novels for a long flight because they dread being bored, you hand them a blank notebook and tell them their own observations will be far more entertaining.
• You are laughing out loud in a quiet cafe while reading your old journal entries from a chaotic college semester, realizing your past drama makes for the best comedy.
• Instead of getting angry during a bizarrely dysfunctional office meeting, you log the ridiculous details in a private document to treat the workplace chaos as material for your own amusement.