The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what
Fiction means.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Miss Prism, Act 2. |
I should have remembered that when one is going to lead an
entirely new life, one requires regular and wholesome meals.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Cecily, Act 2. |
Oh, I don't think I would care to catch a sensible man. I
shouldn't know what to talk to him about.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Cecily, Act 2. |
By persistently remaining single, a man converts himself into
a permanent public temptation. Men should be more careful; this
very celibacy leads weaker vessels astray.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Miss Prism, Act 2. |
No married man is ever attractive except to his wife.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Miss Prism, Act 2. |
Chasuble: Your brother was, I believe, unmarried, was he not?
Jack: Oh yes.
Miss Prism: People who live entirely for pleasure usually are.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Act 2. |
My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures
in the smallest degree.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Algernon, Act 2. |
If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for
it by being always immensely over-educated.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Algernon, Act 2. |
The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity.
But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has
just been introduced is almost unbearable.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Cecily, Act 2. |
A man who is much talked about is always very attractive.
One feels there must be something in him, after all.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Cecily, Act 2. |
I don’t quite like women who are interested in philanthropic
work. I think it is so forward of them.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Cecily, Act 2. |
And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties
he becomes painfully effeminate, does he not? And I don't like
that. It makes men so very attractive.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 2. |
Well, to speak with perfect candour, Cecily, I wish that you
were fully forty-two, and more than usually plain for your age.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 2. |
I think that whenever one has anything unpleasant to say,
one should always be quite candid.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Cecily, Act 2. |
I never travel without my diary. One should always have something
sensational to read in the train.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 2. |
Cecily: When I see a spade I call it a spade.
Gwendolen: I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade.
It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Act 2. |
Personally I cannot understand how anybody manages to exist
in the country, if anybody who is anybody does. The country
always bores me to death.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 2. |
Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best
houses nowadays.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 2. |
I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Jack, Act 2. |
Gwendolen - Cecily - it is very painful for me to be forced
to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have
ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really
quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Jack, Act 2. |
Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The
butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat
muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Algernon, Act 2. |
In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the
vital thing.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 3. |
Oh! I killed Bunbury this afternoon. I mean poor Bunbury died
this afternoon.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Algernon, Act 3. |
The chin a little higher, dear. Style largely depends on the
way the chin is worn. They are worn very high, just at present.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell, Act 3. |
Never speak disrespectfully of Society. Only people who can’t
get into it do that.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell, Act 3. |
To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements.
They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s
character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell, Act 3. |
Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full
of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free
choice, remained thirty-five for years.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell, Act 3. |
Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age.
It looks so calculating.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell, Act 3. |
This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act 3. |
Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly
that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.
Can you forgive me?
The Importance of Being Earnest
Jack, Act 3. |
I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital
Importance of Being Earnest.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Jack, Act 3. |
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The Importance
of being Earnest, Act 1
