“LADY BRACKNELLTo 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.”

“Long engagements give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which is never advisable.”

“I am not in favour of this modern mania for turning bad people into good people at a moment's notice.”

“Lady Bracknell: “He was eccentric, I admit. But only in later years. And that was the result of the Indian climate, and marriage, and indigestion, and other things of that kind.”

“Never met such a Gorgon . . . I don't really know what a Gorgon is like, but I am quite sure that Lady Bracknell is one. In any case, she is a monster, without being a myth, which is rather unfair.”

“LADY HUNSTANTON Lord Illingworth, you don't think that uneducated people should be allowed to have votes?LORD ILLINGWORTH I think they are the only people who should.”

“I am afraid it is quite clear, Cecily, that neither of us is engaged to be married to any one.”