To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, whi… - Oscar Wilde

Long engagements give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which is never advisable.

Appearance is, in fact, a matter of effect merely, and it is with the effects of nature that you have to deal, not with the real condition of the object.

And down the long and silent street, The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet, Crept like a frightened girl.

It's tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man', says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.