Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde) - Key Quotes Flashcards
“The truth is _____ ____ and _____ _____”
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple” - Algernon (Act 1)
“Really, if the _____ ______ don’t ___ __ _ ____ _____, what on earth is ___ ___ __ ____?”
“Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them” - Algernon (Act 1)
“You can ______ _____ that I and Lord Bracknell would _____ of ________ ___ ___ _______, brought up in the utmost care - to ______ ___ _ _________, and _____ an ________ with a _____”
“You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter, brought up in the utmost care - to marry into a cloakroom, and form an alliance with a parcel” - Lady Bracknell
“The ___-______ _____ for the ____ is fast ______ out”
“The old-fashioned respect for the young is fast dying out” - Gwendolen (Act 1)
“____ your _____ is ______”
“But your name is Ernest” - Gwendolen (Act 1)
“Oh that is ________ Algy, you never ____ _______ but ________”
“Oh that is nonsense Algy, you never talk anything but nonsense” - Jack (Act 1)
“Alas! no. The __________ was ___________ ___________”
“Alas! no. The manuscript was unfortunately abandoned.” - Miss Prism (Act 2)
“It is _________ ________ to be in ____ _________ for a man who is actually _______ for a ______ _____ with you in your ______ as a _______. I call it _______.”
“It is perfectly childish to be in deep mourning for a man who is actually staying for a whole week with you in your house as a guest. I call it grotesque.” - Algernon (Act 2)
“My _____ _______ Cecily!” // “My _____ ______ Gwendolyn!” // “You will ____ __ _____, will you not?”
“My poor wounded Cecily!” // “My sweet wronged Gwendolen!” // “You will call me sister, will you not?” - Gwendolen/Cecily (Act 2)
“I hope you have not been _______ a _____ ____, pretending to be ______ and being _____ _____ all the time. That would be ________.”
“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.” - Cecily (Act 2)
“I would ____ ____ her ____”
“I would hang upon her lips” - Chasuble (Act 2)
“In matters of _____ ________, ____, not _______ is the vital thing”
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.” - Gwendolen (Act 3)
“How _____ to talk of the _______ of the ______! Where questions of ____-______ are concerned, ___ are ________ ______ us.”
“How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes” Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us.” - Gwendolen (Act 3)
“[They ___ into ____ ______ ____]”
“[They fall into each others arms.]” (Act 3)
“Never _____ ___________ of _____, Algernon. Only people who ____ _____ ____ __ do that.”
“Never speak disrespectfully of society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.” - Lady Bracknell (Act 3)
“He has ________, but he _____ ________. What more _____ ___ ______?”
“He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more could one desire?” - Lady Bracknell (Act 3)
“…I’ve now realised___ ___ ____ _____ in my ____ the vital _________ __ ______ ______.”
“…I’ve now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” - Jack (Act 3)
“The amount of _____ in London who _____ with their ________ is _________ _________”
“the amount of girls in London who flirt with their husbands is perfectly scandalous” - Algernon (Act 1)
“Mr ________! ____, sir, from this ____-_________ _______. It is most _________.”
“Mr Worthing! Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous.” - Lady Bracknell (Act 1)
“To lose ___ _______, Mr Worthing, may be ________ as __________; to lose ____looks like _________.”
“To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be considered as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” - Lady Bracknell (Act 1)
“The only way to ______ to a _______ is to ____ _____ to her, if she is ______, and to __________ ____, if she is _____.”
“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.” - Algernon (Act 1)
“The _____ ended ______, and the ___ ________. That is what ______ means”
“The good ended happily and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” - Miss Prism (Act 2)
“When one is in the ________ one _______ other ______. It is __________ _______.”
“When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.” - Jack (Act 1)
“A man who _______ without _________ _______ has a very ______ _____ of it.”
“A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.” - Algernon (Act 1)
“______ has a ______ ______ nature. He is the very ____ of ______ and _______.”
“Ernest has a strong upright nature. He is the very soul of truth and honour.” - Gwendolen (Act 2)
“I keep a ______ in order to _____ the _________ _____ of my life.”
“I keep a diary in order to keep the wonderful secrets of my life.” - Cecily (Act 2)
“I do not ______ of his _____ _________. I suspect him of being __________.”
“I do not approve of his moral character. I suspect him of being untruthful.” - Jack (Act 2)
“Your ________ ______ are still an insuperable ______!”
“Your christian names are still an insuperable barrier!” - Gwendolen and Cecily (Act 3)
“If you are ____ ____ _____, I could wait here ___ __ _____.”
“If you are not too long, I could wait here all my life.” - Cecily (Act 3)
“Could you kindly _______ ___ of ____ _ ___?”
“Could you kindly inform me of who I am?” - Jack [to Lady Bracknell] (Act 3)
“I have only been _______ ____…in _________ of a _______________ between myself and a _____ ______ “
“I have only been married once…in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person” - Lane (Act 1)
“I am ____ to _____ of _________. I wish to goodness we had a ____ ______ ____.”
“I am sick to death of cleverness. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.” - Jack (Act 1)
“_______ ones ____ _____ in public”
“Washing ones clean linen in public” - Algernon (Act 1)
“________ produces no ______ whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a _______ ______ to the _____ _______.”
“Education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes.” - Lady Bracknell (Act 1)
“________…what else should ______ one ________?”
“Pleasure…what else should bring one anywhere?” - Jack (Act 1 )
“My _______ was drawn from ____.”
“My metaphor was drawn from bees.” - Chasuble (Act 2)
“My _______ was drawn from ____.”
“My metaphor was drawn from bees.” - Chasuble (Act 2)
“My ______…can be _______ for almost any _______.”
“My sermon…can be adapted for almost any occasion.” - Chasuble (Act 2)
“I ____ his ____ so much.”
“I like his hair so much.” - Cecily (Act 2)
“You can __ __…”
“You can go on…” - Cecily to Algernon (Act 2)
“The ____ seems to me to be the _____ _____ for a ___.”
“The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for a man” - Gwendolen (Act 2)
“There is no ____ for wearing the ______ ____ of _______.”
“There is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners.” - Cecily (Act 2)
“A _____ _________ has been ______ on both of us”
“A gross deception has been played on both of us” - Cecily to Gwendolen (Act 2)
“When I _______ Lord Bracknell, I had __ _______ of ___ _____.”
“When I married Lord Bracknell I had no fortune of any kind.” - Lady Bracknell (Act 3)
“I __ ___ propose to _______ him.”
“I do not propose to undeceive him” - Lady Bracknell talking about Lord Bracknell (Act 3)
“It is a _______ _____ for a ____ to find out suddenly that ___ ___ ____ ____ he has been _______ _______ but the _____.”
“It is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” - Jack (Act 3)
“It is very ______ to ____ like a _______ when one isn’t a _______. It produces a _____ __________.”
“It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression.” - Jack, Act 1
“In _______ life, three is _______ and two is _____.”
“In married life, three is company and two is none.” - Algernon, Act 1
“It is _____ ____ that Mr. Bunbury ____ __ ___ _____ whether he was going to ____ or to ___.”
“It is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die.” - Lady Bracknell, Act 1
“My first __________ of people are _____ _____”
“My first impressions of people are never wrong” - Gwendolen, Act 2
“[He ______ the ______ ____ from ____]”
“[He seizes the muffin dish from Jack]” Act 2 (Algernon)
