"The star of oil and vinegar and the oil and vinegar of the stars"

Paul Newman’s enigmatic phrase, “The star of oil and vinegar and the oil and vinegar of the stars,” weaves together the ordinary and the extraordinary, blurring the lines between mundane experience and celestial grandeur. Discussing oil and vinegar is to evoke one of the world’s simplest yet most evocative combinations, a pairing omnipresent on dining tables, lending complexity, balance, and unity to food. In calling oil and vinegar the “star,” the phrase elevates this simple mixture into something worthy of admiration. The ordinary is crowned, suggesting that beauty and significance can be found in everyday things, like a salad dressing, if only one chooses to notice.

Turning the phrase around, “the oil and vinegar of the stars,” Newman opens a poetic channel suggesting that even the highest, brightest entities, the stars themselves, require some essential blend, a harmony or tension that accounts for their brilliance. Just as oil and vinegar do not fully merge but exist intermingled, their union dynamic, so too might the luminous figures we admire owe their dazzle not to seamless perfection but to their own contrasts and contradictions. The dazzling is made possible by the ongoing interplay of distinct qualities.

Newman’s statement is layered: it celebrates the artistry in simplicity while suggesting that the sublime is built from humble parts. In using “oil and vinegar,” culinary metaphors, there’s an implicit nod to creativity, flavor, and sustenance, inviting us to savor what’s before us while also gazing upward toward aspiration. The quote thus becomes an invitation to appreciate both sides: to let the ordinary aspire, and to recognize the relatability within the magnificent. There’s a quiet encouragement here to notice the magic in the daily blend of opposites, to savor both salad and starlight, and to understand that greatness may rest on the unremarkable seasoned with a pinch of attention and reverence.