Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear.
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. What a tedious, practical subject for you to talk about, Mrs. Cheveley!
MRS. CHEVELEY. Oh, I like tedious, practical subjects. What I don't like are tedious, practical people. There is a wide difference. Besides, you are interested, I know, in International Canal schemes. You were Lord Radley's secretary, weren't you, when the Government bought the Suez Canal shares?
You look quite English, Vicomte, quite English.
A work of art, on the whole, but showing the influence of too many schools.]
[MABEL CHILTERN is a perfect example of the English type of prettiness, the apple-blossom type. She has all the fragrance and freedom of a flower. There is ripple after ripple of sunlight in her hair, and the little mouth, with its parted lips, is expectant, like the mouth of a child. She has the fascinating tyranny of youth, and the astonishing courage of innocence.
By making it a rule only to talk to perfectly charming people like yourself.
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. I cannot do what you ask me.
MRS. CHEVELEY. You mean you cannot help doing it.
money that comes from a tainted source is a degradation.
Circumstances should never alter principles!
