“Miss Prism: ... And you do not seem to reealize, dear Doctor, that by persistently remaining single, a man coverts himself into a permanent public temptation. ...Chausuble: But is a man not equally attractive when married?Miss Prism: No married man is ever attractive except to his wife.Chausuble: And often, I´ve been told, not even to her.”

“Miss Prism: Do not speak slightingly of the three-volume novel, Cecily. I wrote one myself in earlier days. Cecily: Did you really, Miss Prism? How wonderfully clever you are! I hope it did not end happily? I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much. Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”

“Cecily: “Miss Prism says that all good looks are a snare”Algernon: “They are a snare that every sensible man would like to be caught in.”Cecily: “Oh, I don’t think I would care to catch a sensible man. I shouldn’t know what to talk to him about.”

“But don't you think one can be happy when on is married?Perfectly happy. But the happiness of a married man, my dear Gerald, depends on the people he has not married.But if one is in love?One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.”

“When a woman marries again, it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.”

“The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married.”

“Lady Bracknell: Is this Miss Prism a female of repellent aspect, remotely connected with education?Chasuble: (Somewhat indignantly) She is the most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability.Lady Bracknell: It is obviously the same person.”