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Oscar Wilde Quotes Trivia Quiz

Name which of Oscar Wilde's writings contained the following quotes. Someone with a grasp of the plots or characters in Wilde's works should be able to have a pretty good go at this...even if it means guessing sometimes!

A multiple-choice quiz by Flapjack44. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
Flapjack44

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
61,925

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
20

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
10 / 20

Plays
983

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 20

1. Which play contained this phrase: 'Manners before morals!'? Hint

Salome

Vera, or The Nihilists

Lady Windermere's Fan

A Woman of No Importance

NEXT>

Question 2 of 20

2. Which fairy story does this come from: 'It is a ridiculous attachment...she has no money, and far too many relations.'? Hint

The Happy Prince

The Selfish Giant

The Nightingale and the Rose

The Remarkable Rocket

NEXT>

Question 3 of 20

3. Which 1893 work contained this quote: 'Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.'? Hint

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

The Critic as Artist

The Remarkable Rocket

A Woman of No Importance

NEXT>

Question 4 of 20

4. Which short story gives us this line: 'He had gone to the Stock Exchange for six months; but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears?'? Hint

A Florentine Tragedy

The Model Millionaire

The Soul of Man Under Socialism

The Decay of Lying

NEXT>

Question 5 of 20

5. Which play contains this line: 'She wore far too much rouge last night, and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.'? Hint

An Ideal Husband

The Happy Prince

A Picture of Dorian Gray

The Importance of Being Earnest

NEXT>

Question 6 of 20

6. What short story contains the following line: 'Woman are meant to be loved, not understood.'? Hint

The Canterville Ghost

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Lady Windermere's Fan

The Sphinx Without a Secret

7. This exchange features in one of Wilde's plays...which one: 'Cecily: This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade. Gwendolen: I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.'? Hint

An Ideal Husband

The Importance of Being Earnest

A Woman of No Importance

Vera, or The Nihilists

NEXT>

Question 8 of 20

8. Which work gave us the following quote: 'Industry is the root of all ugliness.'? Hint

Salome

Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young

The Decay of Lying

The American Invasion

NEXT>

Question 9 of 20

9. Which work contains this line: 'There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.'? Hint

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Lady Windermere's Fan

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Salome

NEXT>

Question 10 of 20

10. Which work contains this line: 'I always like the last person who is introduced to me; but, as a rule, as soon as I know people I get tired of them.'? Hint

Lady Windermere's Fan

The Ideal Husband

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

The Picture of Dorian Gray

NEXT>

Question 11 of 20

11. Which 1895 play contains this line: 'Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.'? Hint

The Critic as Artist

A Woman of No Importance

The Nightingale and the Rose

The Importance of Being Earnest

NEXT>

Question 12 of 20

12. Which work contains this rather unedifying description of the English: 'The English public like tediousness, and like things to be explained to them in a tedious way.'? Hint

An American Invasion

The Picture of Dorian Gray

De Profundis

Defence of Dorian Gray

NEXT>

Question 13 of 20

13. Which play contains the following line: 'If a woman wants to hold a man, she has merely to appeal to the worst in him.'? Hint

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Lady Windermere's Fan

An Ideal Husband

Salome

NEXT>

Question 14 of 20

14. Which play contains the following quote: 'What a mistake it is to be sincere!'? Hint

Salome

A Woman of No Importance

The Portrait of Mr W. H.

Vera, or The Nihilists

NEXT>

Question 15 of 20

15. Which country is Wilde discussing in the following quote: 'The country seems to try to bully one into a belief in its power by its impressive bigness.'? Hint

France

Germany

Australia

United States of America

NEXT>

Question 16 of 20

16. Which work contains the following line: 'The only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life.'? Hint

The Picture of Dorian Gray

A House of Pomegranates

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

The Canterville Ghost

NEXT>

Question 17 of 20

17. To whom was Wilde referring in this quote: 'He has no enemies, and none of his friends like him.'? Hint

George Bernard Shaw

Sebastian Melmoth

George Eliot

Lord Byron

NEXT>

Question 18 of 20

18. Which work contains the following line: 'To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.'? Hint

An Ideal Husband

The Model Millionaire

The Devoted Friend

The Young King

NEXT>

Question 19 of 20

19. Which work contains this line: 'My dear Margaret, what a handsome woman your husband has been dancing with! I should be quite jealous if I were you! Is she a great friend of yours?'? Hint

An Ideal Husband

Lady Windermere's Fan

The Portrait of Mr WH

The Doer of Good

NEXT>

Question 20 of 20

20. Which play contains this quote: 'We women adore failures. They lean on us.'? Hint

A Woman of No Importance

The Happy Prince

Vera, or The Nihilists

The Young King

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which play contained this phrase: 'Manners before morals!'?

Answer: Lady Windermere's Fan

The play was published in 1892.

2. Which fairy story does this come from: 'It is a ridiculous attachment...she has no money, and far too many relations.'?

Answer: The Happy Prince

Wilde's short stories, (published in group volumes, this one being 'The Happy Prince and other tales') were written for his two sons.

3. Which 1893 work contained this quote: 'Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.'?

Answer: A Woman of No Importance

Lord Illingworth is one of Wilde's most amusing characters. He has the fabulous line: 'To win back my youth Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn't do...except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of the community.'

4. Which short story gives us this line: 'He had gone to the Stock Exchange for six {months;} but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears?'?

Answer: The Model Millionaire

'The Model Millionaire' was published with 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' in 1912.

5. Which play contains this line: 'She wore far too much rouge last night, and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.'?

Answer: An Ideal Husband

'An Ideal Husband' was released in cinematic form most recently in 1999 and starred Rupert Everett, Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver and Jeremy Northam.

6. What short story contains the following line: 'Woman are meant to be loved, not understood.'?

Answer: The Sphinx Without a Secret

This short story was also published with 'Sir Arthur Savile's Crime'.

Answer: The Importance of Being Earnest

'The Importance of Being Earnest' is widely regarded as Wilde's most accomplished and enduring play.

8. Which work gave us the following quote: 'Industry is the root of all ugliness.'?

Answer: Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young

This work is a list of phrases, first published in 1894 in an Oxford University student magazine.

9. Which work contains this line: 'There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.'?

Answer: The Picture of Dorian Gray

'The Picture of Dorian Gray' is Wilde's only novel and was published in 1890.

10. Which work contains this line: 'I always like the last person who is introduced to {me;} but, as a rule, as soon as I know people I get tired of them.'?

Answer: Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

The sub-title for this short story is 'A Study of Duty'.

Answer: The Importance of Being Earnest

'The Importance of Being Earnest' closed down at the time of Wilde's trial and imprisonment. It was revived in 1902, without Wilde's name on the program as it was still considered too controversial. His author's credit was only returned in a 1909 production of the play (after Wilde had died).

12. Which work contains this rather unedifying description of the English: 'The English public like tediousness, and like things to be explained to them in a tedious way.'?

Answer: Defence of Dorian Gray

The scandal that arose subsequent to the publication of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' prompted Wilde to write the Defence. The preface to the novel also contained the following statement 'There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.'.

13. Which play contains the following line: 'If a woman wants to hold a man, she has merely to appeal to the worst in him.'?

Answer: Lady Windermere's Fan

The play also contains another of Wilde's most famous lines: 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'.

14. Which play contains the following quote: 'What a mistake it is to be sincere!'?

Answer: Vera, or The Nihilists

Vera was Wilde's first play and was set in Russia during the time of the Tsars. It was withdrawn in England due to official pressure subsequent to the assasination of Tsar Alexander II and although it did show in New York, it closed after a week due to a disastrous box office performance.

15. Which country is Wilde discussing in the following quote: 'The country seems to try to bully one into a belief in its power by its impressive bigness.'?

Answer: United States of America

The quote is taken from 'Impressions of America'.

16. Which work contains the following line: 'The only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life.'?

Answer: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Another famous quote from the book is as follows: 'I choose my friends for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.'.

17. To whom was Wilde referring in this quote: 'He has no enemies, and none of his friends like him.'?

Answer: George Bernard Shaw

Bernard Shaw has been quoted as calling Wilde a 'snob' but it appears that despite these comments, the two men were not enemies and took an interest in one another's work.

18. Which work contains the following line: 'To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.'?

Answer: An Ideal Husband

The action in this play all takes place within a 24 hour period.

19. Which work contains this line: 'My dear Margaret, what a handsome woman your husband has been dancing with! I should be quite jealous if I were you! Is she a great friend of yours?'?

Answer: Lady Windermere's Fan

The plot of the play of course, hinges on the possible infidelity of Lord Windermere.

20. Which play contains this quote: 'We women adore failures. They lean on us.'?

Answer: A Woman of No Importance

'A Woman of No Importance' is said to be Wilde's attempt at repeating the statements made in 'Salome' which was banned in England as being too dark.

Source: Author Flapjack44

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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