A wholesome oblivion of one’s neighbours is the beginning of wisdom.

Le Gallienne’s aphorism wryly recasts “knowing your neighbor” as a distraction rather than a virtue. “Wholesome oblivion” suggests a deliberate, healthy forgetting: refusing to monitor, judge, or gossip about those around you. The “beginning of wisdom” lies in redirecting attention from social comparison and petty scrutiny toward one’s own moral and intellectual life. The line also hints at the costs of over-familiarity—how constant awareness of others’ habits and opinions can breed irritation, envy, or self-consciousness. Wisdom, in this view, starts with privacy of mind: cultivating inner independence by loosening the grip of neighborhood talk and social surveillance.