MovieChat Forums > The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) Discussion > Favorite Quotes

Favorite Quotes

posted 18 years ago by bookwormfreak112
35 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this play yesterday, and thought it was awsome -- I'll have to get the movie now.

Anyway, for those who have seen the movie and/or play, what was your favorite line? There's so many to chose from, but the one that stands out was when Jack and Algy say they are willing to change their names for the girls they love:

Gwendolyn: How absurd to talk about the quality of sexes! Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us!

It may sound anti-feminist, but I just laughed out loud in the theatre when I heard it!

What about you?

I believe in happy endings.

[–] clare_f 18 years ago

algy - i couldn't eat muffins in an agitated manner - the butter would get on my cuffs
classic!

[–] Mademoiselle_Lemon 18 years ago

There are so many ingenious lines to choose from, but my two favorites are the one in my signature and "I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs."

~~Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.~~

[–] rjmatuse 17 years ago

The whole muffin scene is so undoubtably funny, but the conversation also made me laugh out loud was:

Algy: Bunbury? He was quite *exploded*.
Lady Bracknell: Exploded?
Algy: [pretending sadness] Mm.
Lady Bracknell: Was he the victim of some revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation.
Algy: My dear Aunt Augusta, I mean he was *found out." The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live - that is what I mean - so Bunbury died.
Lady Bracknell: He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians.

[–] pryingdelilah 18 years ago

Hm...I absolutely love when Miss Prism makes her remark after learning Ernest has 'died', "What an interesting lesson for him. I trust he will profit by it."

And I love when Cecily says, "I am very fond of being looked at."

And of course, Algernon's, "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she's pretty or to somebody else if she's plain." Classic.

"Why does a rose symbolize love if a rose always dies?"

[–] angelbaby263 18 years ago

I don't know if this is in the original....I've only ever seen this movie, but I love when Lady Bracknell says:
"Well I must say Algy, I think it's high time Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd."

"The heart dies a slow death, shedding each hope like leaves. Until one day there are none."

[–] Fiyeros_Elphie 18 years ago

I believe the movie is word for word to Oscar Wilde's original script. The settings are changed, but all lines are the same to my knowledge.

But to the point, my favorite line is lady Backnell's speech about men, you know, when she's interviewing Jack.

Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying Gravity.

[–] akshat 18 years ago

I swear I was reminded of one of my rather formidable aunts when Lady Bracknell says, "London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years."
Of course, being an avid student of English Literature, I've gleaned this from the play and am unaware whether the quote is there in the motion picture or not. Do let me know, though.
Love, Light and Peace,
A.

[–] angelbaby263 18 years ago

Yes, that line is in the movie. It's also one of my favorites! There are so many good ones!!!
I've started listening to it on book on tape to see how close it matches up with the movie & so far it seems to match up pretty close...except for some little setting differences. Most of the lines seem to be the same however. I'm only to the part where Lady Bracknell just told Gwendolyn to wait in the carriage after Jack proposed to her.

"The heart dies a slow death, shedding each hope like leaves. Until one day there are none."

[–] ke_edo 18 years ago

I love Lady Bracknell's line:

"to loose one parent, mr Worthing, can be considered a misfortune, but to loose two parents looks like carelessness"

You've gotta love the wit of Wilde

[–] WelcomeToElmStreet 18 years ago

Mother! I forgive you!

~The child is grown, the dream is gone...I have become confortably numb~

[–] Sunflower64 17 years ago

Lady Bracknell: Come Gwendolen, we've already missed five if not six trains, to miss any more might expose us to comment on the platform.

And then I was SAVED by a flying wild man in a loin cloth....

[–] puddiphutt 17 years ago

My favourite was, I think, cut from the movie:
Gwendolen - There are a great many flowers here, Miss Cardew.
Cecily - Why, flowers are as common in the country as people are in London.

Eagles may soar in the clouds, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.

[–] ralu_ale 16 years ago

I think it is:

,,to loose one parent, mr. Worthing, can be regarded as a misfortune, but to loose both looks like carelessness".

[–] Eleima 15 years ago

There are so many priceless quotes, it's hard to choose. One of my favorites is the one Ke_edo quoted:
"Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness."

But there's also this one:
"Lady Bracknell: I have always been of the opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?
Jack: I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell: I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a very delicate exotic fruit. Touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately, in England at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor's Square. "

Eleima

[–] ellysway 14 years ago

yes. this is my fav. too

[–] pinkydesperado 18 years ago

I do not know if it is in the movie, but in the play there is a line by Algernon saying:

"My dear fellow I love my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations are just a tedious pack of people who haven't remotest knowlegde of how to live..nor the smallest instinct of when to die."

Its classic.
But let me know if it is in the movie

[–] svensk_furstinna 18 years ago

This is one of my favorites!!!!

Jack: "Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am? "

[–] MoonWolf99 10 years ago

Jack: "Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am? "

YES, this is my favorite, too! Hilarious!

Also, this one:

"Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness."

[–] debs_r_o 18 years ago

"in it was a three-volume novel of more than unusually revolting sentimentality"

[–] Hankenstein 17 years ago

"Do you smoke?"
"... why, yes I do-"
"Good, I've always thought every man should have an occupation"

and then the foreshadowing that, to paraphrase it, goes something like:

" i hope gwendolyn and cecily will become fast friends and call each other sisters"
"women only call each other sisters after they've called each other a great deal of other things"

and much later, after a bitter feud, gwendolyn and cecily reconcile:

"you'll always call me 'sister', won't you?"

i laughed out loud...

[–] free-texan 17 years ago

Algy-"I suspect you of being a very serious bunburyist. In fact, I think you may be the most serious bunburyist I've ever met."

I need to go bunburying some time. It sounds like fun.

Lady Bracknell-"Mr. Worthing! Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous!"

Dr. Chasuble-"My metaphor was drawn from...bees."

Lady Bracknell-"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both seems like carelessness."

Lady Bracknell-"Mr. Worthing, is Miss Cardew at all connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any families or persons whose origin was a Terminus."

[–] fguerras 17 years ago

The worst thing this movie did was cut Gwendolyn's classic lines after Cecily hands her the cake. Joan Greenwood's reading of those lines in the original could never be topped anyway.

[–] shiraz-3 17 years ago

nah, it's gotta be this one:

"All women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy. All men do not; that is theirs."
and, of course:

"To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

don't i love this play ;)

Xxxxxx

[–] Igglybuff 17 years ago

I also loved these:

"I never travel without my diary, so that I always have something sensational to read on the train."

"The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means."

[–] slrcks 17 years ago

Divorces are made in heaven!

So true :D

25 Days To Go!

[–] wonderllama91 17 years ago

I love the exchange between Algernon and Lady Braknell towards the end.
"What did he die of?"
"Bunbury? Oh, he was quiet exploded."
"Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? I had no idea Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he has been justly punished for his morbidity."

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] andri_glk 17 years ago

my absolute favourite is a ramdom one! after ceicly and algy first kiss she says: "What a vharming boy! I like his hair so much"... I thought this was great since it was that random.... and it's not so much about the words in the movie as for the actions and the faces of the actors...

dean winchester's bride!

www.myspace.com/andradina

[–] JustCruising 16 years ago

Chasuble: Everything is quite ready for the christenings.
Lady Bracknell: The christenings, sir! Is that not somewhat premature?

Oh, Oscar Wilde. How do you be so clever?

[–] malia81 16 years ago

Lady Bracknell-"Mr. Worthing! Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous!"

not only a truly funny line but Dame Judi nails it perfectly!

I just love love this movie.

"Buttons aren't toys"-