Quotes from work
The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar WildeOriginal title The Importance of Being Earnest (Russian)

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.

“Well I won't argue about the matter. You always want to argue about things.
That is exactly what things were originally made for.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“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?”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Never met such a Gorgon… I don't really know what a Gorgon is like, but I am quite sure that Lady Bracknell is one. In any case, she is a monster, without being a myth, which is rather unfair.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Jack, Act I
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

“It is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Algernon, Act I
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

“Oh! I don't think I would like to catch a sensible man. I shouldn't know what to talk to him about.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“I'll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister.
Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

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

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Miss Prism, Act II
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

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

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Lady Bracknell, Act III
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

“I never change, except in my affections.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

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

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

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

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Cecily, Act II
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

“If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
Variant: The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest
Context: The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated.

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Miss Prism, Act II
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)