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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

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‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1<br />

To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like<br />

carelessness.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1<br />

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does.<br />

That’s his.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1 (Wilde had used the same words as dialogue in ‘A Woman <strong>of</strong><br />

No Importance’ (1893) act 2)<br />

<strong>The</strong> good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.<br />

Miss Prism on her novel, in ‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2<br />

<strong>The</strong> chapter on the Fall <strong>of</strong> the Rupee you may omit. It is somewhat too sensational.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2<br />

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good<br />

all the time. That would be hypocrisy.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2<br />

Charity, dear Miss Prism, charity! None <strong>of</strong> us are perfect. I myself am peculiarly susceptible to<br />

draughts.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2<br />

On an occasion <strong>of</strong> this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It<br />

becomes a pleasure.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Importance <strong>of</strong> Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2<br />

I couldn’t help it. I can resist everything except temptation.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 1<br />

Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has a least a dozen, and that they all fit.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 1<br />

Do you know, Mr Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must be so<br />

pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 2<br />

We are all in the gutter, but some <strong>of</strong> us are looking at the stars.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is nothing in the whole world so unbecoming to a woman as a Nonconformist<br />

conscience.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3<br />

Cecil Graham: What is a cynic?<br />

Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price <strong>of</strong> everything and the value <strong>of</strong> nothing.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3<br />

Dumby: Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. cecil graham: One<br />

shouldn’t commit any.<br />

Dumby: Life would be very dull without them.<br />

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3

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