After reading couple of Oscar Wilde's works , Iam in complete awe of him.His anectodes, insightful quotes, barbed wit,sarcastic humor and repartees made me a fan of him :) .His thoughts are still fresh and interesting to read even today.My first read was "Importance of being Earnest" ,and now the play "Ideal Husband" by him.
Following are some of the places I enjoyed reading the play .
Father asks his to son to get married soon
You have got to get married, and at once. Why, when I was your age, sir, I had been an inconsolable widower for three months, and was already paying my addresses to your admirable mother. Damme,sir, it is your duty to get married. You can't be always living for pleasure. Every man of position is married nowadays. Bachelors are not fashionable any more. They are a damaged lot. Too much is known about them. You must get a wife, sir.
Temptation , a weakness ?
Weak? 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. To stake all one's life on a single moment, to risk everything on one throw, whether the stake be power or pleasure,I care not - there is no weakness in that.
Sarcasms about listening to others
It is a very dangerous thing to listen. If one listens one may be convinced; and a man who allows himself to be convinced by an argument is a thoroughly unreasonable person.
Another Witty comment about today's Romance
Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement.
Oh This Guy is with Men's side or Women's side ?
LORD GORING. But women who have common sense are so curiously plain,father, aren't they? Of course I only speak from hearsay.
LORD CAVERSHAM. No woman, plain or pretty, has any common sense at
all, sir. Common sense is the privilege of our sex.
LORD GORING. Quite so. And we men are so self-sacrificing that we
never use it, do we, father?
How true! Now News channels can be added too.
spies are of no use nowadays. Their profession is over. The newspapers do their work instead. And thunderingly well they do it.
About a man's love
when a man has once loved a woman, he will do anything for her, except continue to love her?
Well Oscar belongs to 1890s.I can forgive him now.
A man's life is of more value than a woman's. It has larger issues, wider scope, greater ambitions. A woman's life revolves in curves of emotions. It is upon lines of intellect that a man's life progresses.
Being an Anglo-Irish , He should be right
If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilised.
Other insightful quotes from the play.
Even you are not rich enough, Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.
Life is never fair...And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not."
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance
Read the entire play here
