Quotes from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless. . .”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“It is awfully hard work doing nothing. However, I don't mind hard work where there is no definite object of any kind. -Algernon”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“Well, I don't like your clothes. You look perfectly ridiculous in them. Why on earth don't you go up and change? It's perfectly childish to be in mourning for a man who is actually staying a whole week with you in your house as a guest. I call it grotesque.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“Miss Prism: Do not speak slightingly of the three-volume novel, Cecily. I wrote one myself in earlier days.

Cecily: Did you really, Miss Prism? How wonderfully clever you are! I hope it did not end happily? I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much.

Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“there are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life, fully, entirely, completely - or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“To shut one's eyes to half of life that one may live securely is as though one blinded oneself that one might walk with more safety in a land of pit and precipice.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“Do you really keep a diary? I'd give anything to look at it. May I?

Oh, no. You see, it is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.
Algernon. I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that business.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“JACK: Apoplexy will do perfectly well, Lots of people die of apoplexy, quite suddenly, don't they?
ALGERNON: Yes, but it's hereditary, my dear fellow. It's a sort of thing that runs in families.
JACK: Good heavens! Then I certainly won't choose that. What can I say?
ALGERNON: Oh! Say influenza.
JACK Oh, no! that wouldn't sound probable at all. Far too many people have had it.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

“My dear boy, I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die.”
― Oscar Wilde, quote from The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

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“Your rival has ten weak points, whereas you have ten strong ones. Although his army is large, it is not irresistible.
“Yuan Shao is too caught up in ceremony and show while you, on the other hand, are more practical. He is often antagonistic and tends to force things, whereas you are more conciliatory and try to guide things to their proper courses, giving you the advantage of popular support. His extravagance hinders his administrative ability while your better efficiency is a great contribution to the government, granting you the edge of a well-structured and stable administration. On the outside he is very kind and giving but on the inside he is grudging and suspicious. You are just the opposite, appearing very exacting but actually very understanding of your followers’ strengths and weaknesses. This grants you the benefit of tolerance. He lacks commitment where you are unfaltering in your decisions, promptly acting on your plans with full faith that they will succeed. This shows an advantage in strategy and decisiveness. He believes a man is only as good as his reputation, which contrasts with you, who looks beyond this to see what kind of person they really are. This demonstrates that you are a better judge of moral character. He only pays attention to those followers close to him, while your vision is all-encompassing. This shows your superior supervision. He is easily misled by poor advice, whereas you maintain sound judgment even if beset by evil council. This is a sign of your independence of thought. He does not always know what is right and wrong but you have an unwavering sense of justice. This shows how you excel in discipline. He has a massive army, but the men are poorly trained and not ready for war. Your army, though much smaller, is far superior and well provisioned, giving you the edge in planning and logistics, allowing you to execute effectively. With your ten superiorities you will have no difficulty in subduing Yuan Shao.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))

“And I love you, angry girl. I really do.”
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About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.