Importance Of Being Earnest Quotes

• I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

  Oscar Wilde

  Education, Ignorance, Squares

  1895 Lady Bracknell. The Importance of Being Earnest, act 1.

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• Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right.

  Oscar Wilde

  Girl, Flirting, Men

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.1343, GENERAL PRESS

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• It is awfully hard work doing nothing.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hard Work, Doing Nothing, Earnest

  Oscar Wilde (1899). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.46

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• It is awfully hard work doing nothing. However, I don't mind hard work when there is no definite object of any kind. To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hard Work, Mind, Doing Nothing

  "The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays".

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• When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

  Oscar Wilde

  Country, People, Towns

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “The Importance of Being Earnest: Revised Edition”, p.7, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Husband, Men

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “The Importance of Being Earnest: Revised Edition”, p.26, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• The modern sympathy with invalids is morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others.

  Oscar Wilde

  Sympathy, Kindness, Health

  Oscar Wilde, Alyssa Harad (2005). “The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays”, p.17, Simon and Schuster

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• I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays.

  Oscar Wilde

  Clever, Sick, Nuisance

  Oscar Wilde (1997). “Collected Works of Oscar Wilde: The Plays, the Poems, the Stories and the Essays Including De Profundis”, p.680, Wordsworth Editions

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• An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant as the case may be.

  Oscar Wilde

  Girl, Engagement, May

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “The Importance of Being Earnest: Revised Edition”, p.25, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• Really, if the lower orders don't set a good example, what on earth is the use of them?

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Sarcastic, Order

  'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895) act 1

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• In married life three is company and two none.

  Oscar Wilde

  Two, Three, Married

  'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895) act 1

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• I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hypocrisy, Wicked, Would Be

  'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895) act 2

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• 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.

  Oscar Wilde

  Marriage, Character, Opportunity

  "The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. The Original Four-act Version".

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• In England ... education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and would probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

  Oscar Wilde

  Education, Squares, Class

  Oscar Wilde (1994). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.16, Heinemann

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• Good heavens, I suppose a man may eat his own muffins in his own garden." "But you have just said it was perfectly heartless to eat muffins!" "I said it was perfectly heartless of YOU under the circumstances. That is a very different thing." "That may be, but the muffins are the same!

  Oscar Wilde

  Men, Garden, Heaven

  Oscar Wilde (1956). “Annotated The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People with English Grammar Exercises: by Oscar Wilde (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)”, p.72, Powell Publications, LLC

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• I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.

  Oscar Wilde

  Country, Order, May

  The Importance of Being Earnest act 1 (1895)

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• The very essence of romance is uncertainty.

  Oscar Wilde

  Love, Relationship, Essence

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “Epigrams of Oscar Wilde”, p.104, Wordsworth Editions

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• I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hate, People, Meals

  Oscar Wilde (1899). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.19

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• I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Funny, Travel

  Oscar Wilde (2005). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.50, Prestwick House Inc

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• Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.

  Oscar Wilde

  People, Society, Speak

  Oscar Wilde (1984). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.65, Dramatic Publishing

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• Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.

  Oscar Wilde

  Ignorance, Upper Class, Gone

  1895 Lady Bracknell. The Importance of Being Earnest, act 1.

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• The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

  Oscar Wilde

  Love, Inspirational, Positive

  The Importance of Being Earnest act 1 (1895)

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• To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Family, Sarcastic

  The Importance of Being Earnest act 1 (1895)

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• The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Change, Sarcastic

  The Importance of Being Earnest act 2 (1895)

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• Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.

  Oscar Wilde

  Mean, Weather, People

  Oscar Wilde (1899). “The Importance of Being Earnest”, p.25

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