I’m not too much of a book reader (which is why it’s shocking I have so many books I my to read list right now). Almost every book I read in high school English class needed to be explained to me. The words were too big, and they spoke in sentences that I just couldn’t understand. After seeing An Ideal Husband at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia tonight with my friend Erin I realized that it might not be that I couldn’t understand them, it might be that I just wasn’t hearing them correctly. The witty comments this evening were wonderful, but even as I was listening to them I thought to myself if this were in print, I would have no idea that this was what was supposed to be happening. So I wanted to take some time this evening to appreciate some wonderful quotes from the evening, ones that I would not have caught if it weren’t for the incredible cast of the Walnut Street Theatre. (Also, I want to give ridiculous props to the stage crew dressed in fancy tuxedos. I’ve never seen such transformational set changes happen on stage before, and it was all choreographed just as if it were part of the show. Incredible work.)
Top 15 Quotes from Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband
(in chronological order)
Also, there was one quote that describes the way I feel every time I walk into a room – “I can’t find anyone in this house to talk to and I am full of interesting information”. Which I’m pretty sure my roommate can attest to.
Do you have a favorite Oscar Wilde quote?
Interesting quotes. Some didn’t really make sense to me but then they probably did when they were penned (or spoken.) For instance, “One should never give a woman anything that she can’t wear in the evening.” That would whittle down the possible gifts to a handful of categories – clothes, shoes, perfumes, and jewels. Sad. I am glad I wasn’t born in those days :)
Absolutely fair – context does always help. You’re right, that quote is a little bit sad – but back in those times there were way less options for things that people couldn’t actually wear. So maybe we’ll need to find a way to modernize it…
Guess there were options, but they were “truncated”. I’d have loved books but then if I were born in the middle-ages (when even Galileo was persecuted for giving a theory that turned out to be right later,) nobody would dare to give me a book – unless it was a religious one. Glad to have been born today :)