Just TIOBE quotes Flashcards
Act 1- Jack scolds Algernon when he asks if Jack has told Gwendolen about his attractive ward Cecily
‘The truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.’
Act 1- After speaking to Lane about Lane’s accidental marriage at the beginning of the play, Algernon says:
“They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.”
Act 1- Gwendolen explains how she wants Jack to show his love more
“And I often wish that in public […] you had been more demonstrative”
Act 1- Lane replies to Algernon asking him why he didn’t listen to his playing; comes across as being subordinate to his master
“I didn’t think it polite to listen sir”
Act 1- First thing Lady Bracknell asks Jack when she interrogates him
“Do you smoke? […] A man should always have an occupation of some kind”
Act 1- Lady Bracknell’s sense of social responsibility
“Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids”
Act 1- Algernon says this to Jack when giving advice on his relationship with Gwendolen
“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.”
Act 1- Algernon says this when talking to Jack about marriage and divorce
“Divorces are made in Heaven”
Act 1- Jack’s proposal to Gwendolen
“…ever since I met you I have admired you more than any girl… I have ever met since… I met you.”
Act 1- Algernon and Jack are discussing the possible location of Jack’s country house when Algernon says:
“I have Bunburyed all over shropshire on two separate occasions”
Act 2- Cecily talking to Miss Prism about her lessons
“But I don’t like German. It isn’t at all a becoming language. I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after my German lesson.”
Act 2- Dr. Chasuble flirts with Miss Prism
“[Bowing.] A classical allusion merely, drawn from the Pagan authors”
Act 2- Algernon justifies his bold, flamboyant clothing choices to Jack
“If I am occasionally a little overdressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.”
Act 2- Gwendolyn thinks she has accurate intuition when introduced to Cecily for the first time
“My first impressions of people are never wrong.”
Act 2- Miss Prism exclaims this when Jack’s ‘wicked’ brother is brought up in conversation with Jack and Dr. Chasuble
“As a man sows, let him reap”
Act 2- Gwendolen says this when the boys reveal their deceit
“You will call me sister, will you not?”
Act 2- Gwendolen and Cecily’s argument in the presence of Merriman
Gwendolen: ‘[With elaborate politeness]’
Cecily: [Sweetly]
Act 2- Gwendolen and Cecily’s argument once Merriman has left
G: “I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far.”
Act 2- Jack refuses to deny his true name when revealing it to Gwendolen and Cecily
[Standing rather proudly]- “ I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything If I liked”
Act 2- Algernon requests a flower from Cecily when they meet in the garden
“I never have an appetite unless I have a buttonhole first”
Act 2- Cecily informs Algernon that they’re already engaged when he tries to propose
“You silly boy! […] why, we have been engaged for the last three months.”
Act 2- When Cecily first meets Algernon she is fascinated by his wickedness
“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.”
Act 2- Gwendolen views ‘Ernest’ as an extremely reputable and moral character
“Ernest […] is the very soul of truth and honour. Disloyalty would be as impossible to him as deception.”
Act 2- Jack pretends that Algernon has been called home when he visits Jack’s estate in Hertfordshire, telling Algernon that:
‘your duty as a gentleman calls you back.’ Algernon replies that ‘my duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures’
Act 3- Gwendolen says this when she and Cecily are beginning to unravel the truth
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
Act 1- Lady Bracknell disses her husband- Part 1 (whilst talking to Algernon about the dinner)
“Your uncle would have to dine upstairs. Fortunately he is accustomed to that”
Act 1- Lady Bracknell has more influence over Gwendolen’s marriage partners than her husband
“You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter […] to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel?”
Act 3- Lady Bracknell disses her husband once again
“I have never undeceived him on any question. I would consider it wrong.”
Act 2- Jack arrives in the country to inform everyone that ‘Ernest’ is dead
‘[In mourning clothes]’
Act 2- When she argues with Gwendolen about who ‘Ernest’ is truly engaged to, Cecily declares:
‘This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners’
Act 1- Lady Bracknell declares her opinion on the increasingly educated lower classes
- “ignorance is like an exotic fruit. Touch it and the bloom is gone”
- “the whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.”
Act 3- Jack realises his mistake
“it is […] terrible […] for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?”
(G.) “I can. For I feel that you are sure to change.”
Act 2- Cecily’s excitement at Jack’s return from town presents her as an ingénue
“Uncle Jack! Oh I am pleased to see you back”
Act 2- Cecily scolds Jack for not forgiving ‘Ernest’, presenting her as an ingénue
“However badly he may have behaved […] he is still your brother”
Act 2- Cecily presents herself as a sheltered ingénue when Merriman announces the entrance of ‘Ernest’
“I have never met any really wicked person before”
- At what age does Cecily ‘legally’ come of age?
2. What is a terms of endearment attached to Cecily by others?
- 35
2. ‘Child’; Alg. “my little cousin, Cecily”
How does Algernon play the piano?
“I don’t play accurately […] but I play with wonderful expression”
Act 2- Algernon enters fabulously after Merriman announces his entrance to Cecily
‘[Enter Algernon, very gay and debonnaire]’
Act 2- Algernon expresses his disgust for Jack’s fashion choices
“Well, I don’t like your clothes”
Act 2- Algernon explains to Cecily how he needs to leave on Monday but doesn’t want to
“I have a business appointment that I am anxious… to miss?”
