Timothy: Ann is so interested. She knows that all of the romance in the world is contained in the laundry-maid’s love affair.
Molyneux: All lovers are the same. That is why I gave up being one. I realized that the only new rôle I could assume was that of a husband, and marriage seemed too heavy a price to pay.
Mrs. Martineau: And everyone knows all about husbands.
Molyneux: To tell you the truth, I wanted to keep one illusion. I was afraid that if I married I might discover that wives deceive their lovers with their husbands.
Lord William: Molly and I gave up sentimental adventures when we noticed that we were becoming sentimental. We decided to take to dry wit.
Molyneux: We are universally considered as wits, and as that reputation, so easily gained, is impossible to lose, we are dragooned by public opinion and our own self-respect into living up to it.
Lord William: You see, Jordan, a reputation is a prison.
Mrs. Martineau: And self-respect is the jailor.
Selina: What is self-respect, Tim?