The Importance of Being Earnest: Quotes

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• "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

  Lady Bracknell · Act I

• "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

  Algernon · Act I

• "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means."

  Miss Prism · Act II

• "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."

  Gwendolen · Act II

• "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing."

  Gwendolen · Act III

• "On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest."

  Jack · Act III

• "The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

  Algernon · Act I

• "Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary that we all carry about with us."

  Miss Prism · Act II