Named source · 1893 play

A Woman of No Importance Quotes by Oscar Wilde: Context & Meanings

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1893 play

Dates represented in this collection: 1893. Individual quotation notes provide the most specific context for a passage.

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“When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself. And one ends by deceiving others.”

Oscar Wilde · A Woman of No Importance · 1893

Voice: Fictional character · Lord Illingworth

The line turns romance into a two-stage comedy of self-deception and social deception, exaggerating cynicism to expose how desire distorts judgment.

Source note: A Woman of No Importance, Act III; Lord Illingworth answers Gerald’s question about love with the romance/self-deception epigram. The exact catalog wording is supported by this play, not by The Picture of Dorian Gray.

1893 play

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