Important Quotations Explained
1. Algernon: “Nothing
will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married,
which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to
know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very
tedious time of it.”
2. Lady
Bracknell: “I do not approve of anything
that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic
fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. 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 upper classes, and probably lead to acts
of violence in Grosvenor Square.”
3. Jack: “You
don't think there is any chance of Gwendolen becoming like her mother
in about a hundred and fifty years, do you, Algy?”
Algernon: “All
women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does.
That's his.”
Jack: “Is that
clever?”
Algernon: “It
is perfectly phrased! and quite as true as any observation in civilized
life should be.”
4. Algernon: “Oh!
I am not really wicked at all, cousin Cecily. You mustn't think
that I am wicked.”
Cecily: “If you
are not, then you have certainly been deceiving us all in a very
inexcusable manner. 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.”
5.
Lady Bracknell: “My nephew, you seem
to be displaying signs of triviality.”
Jack: “On the
contrary, Aunt Augusta, I've now realized for the first time in
my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.”
