“When I see a spade I call it a spade.I'm glad to say I have never seen a spade!”

“Cecily. This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade.Gwendolen. [Satirically.] I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.”

“I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who would call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one.”

“The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one.”

“Do you smoke?Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.I'm glad to hear of it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind.”

“It is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend. Somehow, I had never loved a woman. I suppose I never had time. Perhaps, as Harry says, a really grande passion is the privilege of those who have nothing to do, and that is the use of the idle classes in a country”

“I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean.”