The Importance of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

My dear fellow, it isn’t easy to be anything nowadays. There’s such a lot of beastly competition about.

Jack. You’re quite perfect, Miss Fairfax. Gwendolen. Oh! I hope I am not that. It would leave no room for developments, and I intend to develop in many directions.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

so real for that

I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.

Oh, I don’t think I would care to catch a sensible man. I shouldn’t know what to talk to him about.

To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.