An Ideal Husband Quotations
Act I
Ah, nowadays people marry as often as they can, don’t they It is most fashionable.
An Ideal Husband, Lady Markby, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analyzed, women …
merely adored.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn’t so, life wouldn’t be worth living.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Oh, I love London society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what society
should be.
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Lady Basildon: Ah! I hate being educated!
Mrs. Marchmont: So do I. It puts one almost on a level with the commercial classes, doesn’t it
An Ideal Husband, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Can’t make out how you stand London Society. The thing has gone to the dogs, a lot of damned nobodies talking
about nothing.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Caversham, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Nothing ages like happiness.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Lady Basildon: I delight in talking politics. I talk them all day long. But I can’t bear listening to them. I don’t know
how the unfortunate men in the House stand these long debates.
Lord Goring: By never listening.
An Ideal Husband, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Mrs. Cheveley … she was a genius in the daytime and a beauty at night.
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I am sick and tired of pearls. They make one look so plain, so good and so intellectual.
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Truth is a very complex thing, and politics is a very complex business. There are wheels within wheels.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I am not changed. But circumstances altar things.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
, There is nothing so difficult to marry as a large nose.
An Ideal Husband, Lady Markby, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
He rides in the Row at ten o’clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at
least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don’t call that leading an idle life, do you
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don’t talk politics.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Twenty years of romance make a woman look like a ruin; but twenty years of marriage make her something like
a public building.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Illingworth, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
One’s past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.
An Ideal Husband, Lady Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Act II
Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation I tell you that there are terrible
temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. What this century worships is wealth. The
God of this century is wealth.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
In England a man who can’t talk morality twice a week to a large, popular, immoral audience is quite over as a
serious politician.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
The English can’t stand a man who is always saying he is in the right, but they are very fond of a man who admits
that he has been in the wrong. It is one of the best things in them.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Then the marvellous gospel of gold breaks down sometimes. The rich can’t do everything, after all.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Oh, I should fancy Mrs. Cheveley is one of those very modern women of our time who find a new scandal as
becoming as a new bonnet, and air them both in the Park every afternoon at five-thirty.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Act I
Ah, nowadays people marry as often as they can, don’t they It is most fashionable.
An Ideal Husband, Lady Markby, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analyzed, women …
merely adored.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn’t so, life wouldn’t be worth living.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Oh, I love London society! It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what society
should be.
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Lady Basildon: Ah! I hate being educated!
Mrs. Marchmont: So do I. It puts one almost on a level with the commercial classes, doesn’t it
An Ideal Husband, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Can’t make out how you stand London Society. The thing has gone to the dogs, a lot of damned nobodies talking
about nothing.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Caversham, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Nothing ages like happiness.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Lady Basildon: I delight in talking politics. I talk them all day long. But I can’t bear listening to them. I don’t know
how the unfortunate men in the House stand these long debates.
Lord Goring: By never listening.
An Ideal Husband, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Mrs. Cheveley … she was a genius in the daytime and a beauty at night.
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I am sick and tired of pearls. They make one look so plain, so good and so intellectual.
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Truth is a very complex thing, and politics is a very complex business. There are wheels within wheels.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I am not changed. But circumstances altar things.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
, There is nothing so difficult to marry as a large nose.
An Ideal Husband, Lady Markby, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
He rides in the Row at ten o’clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at
least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don’t call that leading an idle life, do you
An Ideal Husband, Mabel Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don’t talk politics.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.
An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Twenty years of romance make a woman look like a ruin; but twenty years of marriage make her something like
a public building.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Illingworth, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
One’s past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.
An Ideal Husband, Lady Chiltern, Act 1, Oscar Wilde
Act II
Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation I tell you that there are terrible
temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. What this century worships is wealth. The
God of this century is wealth.
An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
In England a man who can’t talk morality twice a week to a large, popular, immoral audience is quite over as a
serious politician.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
The English can’t stand a man who is always saying he is in the right, but they are very fond of a man who admits
that he has been in the wrong. It is one of the best things in them.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Then the marvellous gospel of gold breaks down sometimes. The rich can’t do everything, after all.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
Oh, I should fancy Mrs. Cheveley is one of those very modern women of our time who find a new scandal as
becoming as a new bonnet, and air them both in the Park every afternoon at five-thirty.
An Ideal Husband, Lord Goring, Act 2, Oscar Wilde
