“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
Work
Set in England during the late Victorian era, the play's humour derives in part from characters maintaining fictitious identities to escape unwelcome social obligations. It is replete with witty dialogue and satirises some of the foibles and hypocrisy of late Victorian society. It has proved Wilde's most enduringly popular play. - [*Wikipedia*][1] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest
Quotes
Showing 1-11 of 11
Oscar Wilde
Canonical work source
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”
“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
“Oh! 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.”
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”
“LADY BRACKNELL 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 advisa...”
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.”
“The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain.”
“I have never met any really wicked person before. I feel rather frightened. I am so afraid he will look just like every one else.”
“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 upp...”
“I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I bel...”