“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
Lord Goring, Act III
Source: An Ideal Husband (1895)
Quotes from work
An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband is an 1895 stage play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. The action is set in London, in "the present", and takes place over the course of twenty-four hours.
“If we men married the women we deserved, we should have a very bad time of it.”
Lord Goring, Act IV
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Mrs Cheveley, Act I
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“When one pays a visit it is for the purpose of wasting other people's time, not one's own.”
Lord Goring, Act IV
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“However, it is always nice to be expected, and not to arrive.”
Lord Goring, Act III
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Lord Goring, Act IV
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Mabel Chiltern, Act II
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“Now don't stir. I'll be back in five minutes. And don't fall into any temptations while I am away.”
Miss Mabel Chiltern to Lord Goring, just after accepting his proposal, Act IV
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are.”
Mrs. Cheveley, Act III
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.”
Lord Goring, Act IV
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear.”
Lord Goring, Act III
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Lord Goring, Act III
An Ideal Husband (1895)
Mabel Chiltern, Act I
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“Even you are not rich enough, Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.”
Mrs Cheveley, Act I
Usually quoted as: No man is rich enough to buy back his own past.
Source: An Ideal Husband (1895)
