It's a terrible thing to be alone — yes it is — it is — but don't lower your mask until you have another mask prepared beneath — as terrible as you like — but a mask.
— Katherine Mansfield
Comic Books
Lois Lane: The way she's acting...
Clark Kent: Cat left the planet after her son died. Everything she's wearing right now, everything she's pretending to be, she's using it to cover up. I don't need X-Ray Vision to tell me when someone's hiding behind a disguise.
Clark Kent: Cat left the planet after her son died. Everything she's wearing right now, everything she's pretending to be, she's using it to cover up. I don't need X-Ray Vision to tell me when someone's hiding behind a disguise.
Fanfiction
Tough girl, her mental jester mocked her. Everybody thinks you're such a tough girl.
But she had to be tough. Finding out that so many years of her life were a pre-programmed lie, coming to a strange world, finding only one man of Krypton and then losing him, turning from innocence into grim experience on a planet she never made... she had to be tough, or break. She had to wall the little girl off, most of the time, and put on the casing of the big, tough, capable bitch.
But she had to be tough. Finding out that so many years of her life were a pre-programmed lie, coming to a strange world, finding only one man of Krypton and then losing him, turning from innocence into grim experience on a planet she never made... she had to be tough, or break. She had to wall the little girl off, most of the time, and put on the casing of the big, tough, capable bitch.
In the beginning, when Annette was careful to keep her shape to the most aesthetically pleasing one possible, you had to be careful with your approach; it’s not that she lies out of malice or anger, but she protects herself in the best way she can. For Annette, the worst possible fate is to be seen, known, perceived in all her imperfections.
Then the Second Child had arrived, bringing with her conflict, friction and more then a few painful contusions to his head as she continually let him know exactly what she thought of him as an Eva Pilot, a man and a human.
All of it a giant lie to shield the four year old girl desperately hiding deep behind the moats, minefields and electrified fences she had placed around her heart.
All of it a giant lie to shield the four year old girl desperately hiding deep behind the moats, minefields and electrified fences she had placed around her heart.
There before me, from this girl who'd never shown anything but self assuredness, was a catalogue of failures.
— Shinji, The One I Love Is..., chapter 6
In [Loki's] head there is a voice, wild with laughter, crying, Reject me, try it, lay one hand on me again and you will be atoms, all of you, and your pathetic ruin, nothing but dust. Outwardly he holds to that slight, polite smile.
— Shatter
Literature
Everyone sees what you appear to be, few really know what you really are.
Your occupation consists in preserving your hiding-place, and that you succeed in doing, for your mask is the most enigmatical of all. In fact you are nothing; you are merely a relation to others, and what you are you are by virtue of this relation. To a fond shepherdess you hold out a languishing hand, and instantly you are masked in all possible bucolic sentimentality. A reverend spiritual father you deceive with a brotherly kiss, etc. You yourself are nothing, an enigmatic figure on whose brow is inscribed Either/or – "For this," you say, "is my motto...
— Either/Or, by Søren Kierkegaard
A pure white mask, in contrast to her own Arab ethnicity. She’d meant to make a point of it, to challenge people to wonder more about what was behind the masks, about their assumptions about heroes and villains. Belatedly, she said, "We act too much. Hide behind masks way too often."
— Worm, by Wildbow
Are you surprised, dreamer? Are you surprised that I could be so much less of a man within? Do not be.
— Mirror Dreams, by Catherine Webb
An image formed in front of her, born of Stormlight, created by instinct. She hadn't needed to draw this image first, for she knew it too well.
The image was of herself. Shallan, as she should be. Curled in a huddle on the bed, unable to weep for she had long since run out of tears. This girl... not a woman, a girl... flinched whenever spoken to. She expected everyone to shout at her. She could not laugh, for laughter had been squeezed from her by a childhood of darkness and pain.
That was the real Shallan. She knew it as surely as she knew her own name. The person she had become instead was a lie, one she had fabricated in the name of survival.
The image was of herself. Shallan, as she should be. Curled in a huddle on the bed, unable to weep for she had long since run out of tears. This girl... not a woman, a girl... flinched whenever spoken to. She expected everyone to shout at her. She could not laugh, for laughter had been squeezed from her by a childhood of darkness and pain.
That was the real Shallan. She knew it as surely as she knew her own name. The person she had become instead was a lie, one she had fabricated in the name of survival.
— Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson
Marco turned away from Jake. The grin disappeared. He looked like he wanted to cry.
Our eyes met again. And not for the first time I realized how smart Marco is underneath all the jokes. He knew we were going to do it. He knew his best friend's life might be the price we paid. He also knew we couldn't go into this hopeless battle thinking about nothing but that single, terrible fact.
— Animorphs - Megamorphs #3, by K.A. Applegate
The Opium Khan surveys his situation, and seems about to speak. Then he looks at Edie, and for the first time she sees the truth of him. The hectoring matinee villain fades away, the cheery roguish smile vanishes, and in its place is the thing which locked a family in a room and incinerated them. It's like watching a snake rise from the corpse of a wolf. Another explosion rattles the room, closer this time.
"This no longer interests me," Shem Shem Tsien says flatly. "Kill them all. Put out the fire. I will want their heads, of course."
— Angelmaker, by Nick Harkaway
There are only a few people you will meet in your life who should have the privilege of looking beyond your facade.
— Hey Humanity, by Lidia Longorio
Laughing. Kicking. Clapping on the beat. Feeling her somewhere behind him, doing the same. Wondering if she wanted as badly as he did to be out of here, to be in the dark, to be alone in the dark, where he could put his false face aside before the real one beneath could grow hot enough to set it afire.
— Wizard and Glass, by Stephen King
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
— Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut
“I was ashamed of myself when I realized life was a costume party and I attended with my real face”
— Attributed to Franz Kafka
Live-Action TV
Everybody lies...
— Title character, House
Fuck this world for confusing nice with good. Be a bitch if you want. Be whatever. Just drop the mask once in a while.
— Stormfront, The Boys (2019) S2E2
Prank: But don't you want to see who-
Trickster: He is the mask! Without the mask, he's... nothing, bupkis, nada, zip! Just some boring, average, insignificant jerk nobody cares about who'll die alone and forgotten, watching game shows in an empty apartment... with cats. If you touch that mask again... I'LL MURDER YA!
Trickster: He is the mask! Without the mask, he's... nothing, bupkis, nada, zip! Just some boring, average, insignificant jerk nobody cares about who'll die alone and forgotten, watching game shows in an empty apartment... with cats. If you touch that mask again... I'LL MURDER YA!
Music
So go ahead and bat your eyes and lie right to the world
For with everything you are, you're just a little girl
— "Just A Little Girl", by Trading Yesterday
Why should you care, what they think of you
When you're all alone, by yourself
Do you like you? Do you like you?
— "Try", by Colbie Caillat
Well we all have a face that we hide away forever
And we take them out and show ourselves
When everyone has gone.
Some are satin, some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather.
They're the faces of the Stranger,
But we love to try them on.
— "The Stranger", by Billy Joel
So ya thought ya might like to go to the show
To feel the warm thrill of confusion that space cadet glow
Tell me is something eluding you sunshine?
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes
You'll just have to claw your way through this disguise!
— "In The Flesh?", by Pink Floyd
Mirror, tell me something...
Tell me, who's the loneliest of all?
Fear of what's inside me...
Tell me, can a heart be turned to stone?
Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I see,
I can keep it from the world,
Why won't you let me hide from me?
— "Mirror, Mirror", from RWBY
Here is my real head, here is my real head
I wear this fucking mask because you cannot handle me
Here is my real head
— "Organ Grinder", by Marilyn Manson
My heart could be burning, but you won't see it on my face
I'll still keep the party running, not one hair out of place
— "Dance The Night", by Dua Lipa
Tabletop Games
Everybody you know is nothing more than a collection of habits, idiosyncrasies and speech affectations for you to play with. You know which personality or mannerism best amuses others, but you don't have a developed personality of your own. You entertain and harangue other people, because you're afraid your friends might realize how dull you actually are. You haven't "looked" like yourself this last month: you've always been somebody else, pretending at an existence not your own, playing for the appreciation of others. In public, you're the unlife of the party; in private, you bore yourself to bloody tears.
— Roleplaying notes for the Star, Fucker, Vampire: The Masquerade - Clanbook: Tzimisce (Revised)
Throughout her rise to the top of the echelons of power, Malys smiled not once, her face ever a mask of self-assurance and contempt for the Dark Eldar that once more clawed and scraped for favour. When she is sure no-one is around, however, Malys will gaze long into her own reflection, grinning, then giggling, then bursting into terrifying seizures of laughter that seem for all the world to come from two throats at once.
— Warhammer 40,000: Codex - Dark Eldar (5th ed)
Theatre
Beneath this mask I wear
There's nothing of me,
Just horror, shame, despair...
Why does she love me?
— Raoul, Love Never Dies
Video Games
In short, Yandere-chan is always insane, 100% of the time. Her sanity does not rise or fall. Instead, what rises and falls is her current level of composure; her current ability to hide her true nature. As Yandere-chan performs acts of cruelty, her composure will slip, and her true face will begin to show.
— The developer of Yandere Simulator, discussing its psychopathic main character
Your true face... What kind of... face is it? I wonder... the face under that mask... Is that... your true face?
— Lunar Child, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF??? ACCORDING TO [[Encyclopedia of]] [[Being Afraid]], THERE'S NOTHING TO FEAR EXCEPT ... ... can anyone hear me? Help...
— Spamton, Deltarune
I'm a shape shifter
At Poe's masquerade
Hiding both face and mind
All free for you to draw
I'm a shape shifter
Chained down to my core
Please don't take off my mask
My place to hide
At Poe's masquerade
Hiding both face and mind
All free for you to draw
I'm a shape shifter
Chained down to my core
Please don't take off my mask
My place to hide
You see a man whose character changed. I see a man who got found out... for who he truly was.
— John Marston discussing this trope regarding Dutch van der Linde, Red Dead Redemption 2
Web Original
...You may think that person is perfect or that everyone likes her/him, but people do have flaws. And there are always people who acknowledge those flaws. And there are always going to be people who don’t like you for whatever reason.
If you think someone thinks that she/he is perfect, then that person is probably putting up a front. A lot of people are insecure, and acting super confident (or faking it until they make it) might be their way of coping. Everyone has flaws and knows that they have flaws, even if you personally do not see them acknowledge those flaws.
— Blogger marysueproblems criticizing the concept of 'Mary Sues in real life'
criticizing the concept of 'Mary Sues in real life'The Japanese say you have three faces. The first face, you show to the world. The second face, you show to your close friends and your family. The third face, you never show anyone. It is the truest reflection of who you are.
Western Animation
Barbara Gordon: He's a pig.
Jim Gordon: He's acting like one. Anyone who'd wear a cape and hurt criminals might go far to keep his secrets.
Jim Gordon: He's acting like one. Anyone who'd wear a cape and hurt criminals might go far to keep his secrets.
Bender: Please... I'm scared.
Sal: We're all scared, it's the human condition. Why do you thinks I put on this tough guy facade? Now beat it!
Sal: We're all scared, it's the human condition. Why do you thinks I put on this tough guy facade? Now beat it!
— Futurama, "The Honking"
