Anime & Manga
"Remember long ago, when you said you loved me? But, wasn't that because I love Sasuke? You didn't want to lose to him. It's real this time, isn't it? Hinata is a great person. She's almost too good for you."
— Sakura to Naruto, The Last: Naruto the Movie
Kobayashi-sensei has met Satou-san, hasn't she? (...) On top of that, if she hears how completely infatuated you were with Satou-san. Then of course, she would think like that! "Inspector Shiratori is only being nice to me because I look like Satou-san! Was I just a substitute for Satou-san?"
— Ai Haibara, Case Closed, explaining why Kobayashi-sensei got mad upon learning that she was Satou's Identical Stranger. It's Subverted in the end, though.
Touko: Don't do it, Sayaka. I'm not the amazing person you think I am. So please... stop.
Sayaka: I wish you wouldn't underestimate me. Don't be absurd. I know exactly who you are. I'm in love with you, Touko. I want to be with you. I suppose at first, I fell in love with the perfect verison of you. You were more talented than me, always looking further ahead. I knew right away that I wanted to walk by your side. So when I learned of the weakness you were hiding, I expected to feel let down, and yet... You really are beautiful. I love you even more than I realized myself. I love everything about you.
Sayaka: I wish you wouldn't underestimate me. Don't be absurd. I know exactly who you are. I'm in love with you, Touko. I want to be with you. I suppose at first, I fell in love with the perfect verison of you. You were more talented than me, always looking further ahead. I knew right away that I wanted to walk by your side. So when I learned of the weakness you were hiding, I expected to feel let down, and yet... You really are beautiful. I love you even more than I realized myself. I love everything about you.
Comic Books
Kai: I'm sorry. I never meant... I love her.
Batgirl: You don't even know her, Kai. You're in love with a memory.
Batgirl: You don't even know her, Kai. You're in love with a memory.
Fan Works
He knew Spottedleaf was lost to him forever, and maybe always had been. But perhaps that was the reason she always haunted him; the same quality that had made him yearn for the elusive as he first ventured into the forest was the same quality that would forever seek her out.
Ruby gaped after Her. This Girl was nothing like the quiet, pleasant, melancholy soul she’d imagined. She was the complete opposite of that.
"But what if there weren't other people? Who could judge if you were in love or if you'd just experience a crush on someone; if you just think you are in love?"
— Asuka, The Second Try
"I fell in love," Hans tried, but Lars' condescending gaze made him doubt himself. "Or at least, I-I think I did," he added sheepishly. Surely, Lars should understand that love, indeed, was a probable answer.
"Oh, Hans. If you believe that you fell in love you are more idiotic and naive than even I thought," he said coldly.
"It's true!" Hans said, defensively. "I know it sounds crazy, but Princess Anna loves me and we-"
"She doesn't love you Hans. And you don't love her! You don't even know each other!"
"You're wrong. We felt something tonight. She does love me-"
"She doesn't! She doesn't know any better. It was her first day outside of the castle walls and all she found was you. Who is to say once she gets wind of any other man she bumps into she is not going to fall for him as well?"
"Oh, Hans. If you believe that you fell in love you are more idiotic and naive than even I thought," he said coldly.
"It's true!" Hans said, defensively. "I know it sounds crazy, but Princess Anna loves me and we-"
"She doesn't love you Hans. And you don't love her! You don't even know each other!"
"You're wrong. We felt something tonight. She does love me-"
"She doesn't! She doesn't know any better. It was her first day outside of the castle walls and all she found was you. Who is to say once she gets wind of any other man she bumps into she is not going to fall for him as well?"
The truth was that [Aziraphale] found himself wishing it was the real Crowley who lay with him afterwards, murmuring softness against his neck, running worshipful fingers over his chest and stomach. Wishing those eyes were as gold and glimmering as they should be, wishing that smile was weighted with all their centuries together, wishing that Crowley would call him angel, would call him by his true name. Wishing they'd found a way to do this long, long ago. Wondering if they would ever have the chance now, or if this pale echo was all he could hope for.
"Why did I even like her in the first place? I never knew her to begin with!"
— Naruto about Sakura, True Potential
"You never saw me when you were alive, never knew me! All you ever saw was something you dreamed — Ned with tits, the mother you lost, the princess in every tale, all rolled into one! You never saw me! Never!"
—Lyanna Stark about Robert Baratheon, The King Nobody Wanted
Film — Live-Action
Erin: I'd be here, I love you.
Scott: You love the idea of me.
Erin: But it's such a great idea.
Scott: You love the idea of me.
Erin: But it's such a great idea.
You were my life, but life is far away from fair.
Was I stupid to love you?
Was I reckless to help?
Was it obvious to everybody else?
That I'd fallen for a lie?
Was I stupid to love you?
Was I reckless to help?
Was it obvious to everybody else?
That I'd fallen for a lie?
— No Time to Die theme song
Literature
His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.
Iago: [gushing] You are a perfect human being.
Emilia: [Her eyes widened in alarm] No, I'm not, Iago, do not saddle me with such an impossible responsibility!
Iago: May I enjoy the illusion of your perfection at least for this evening?
Emilia: Only if you promise not to punish me when you realize I'm not.
Emilia: [Her eyes widened in alarm] No, I'm not, Iago, do not saddle me with such an impossible responsibility!
Iago: May I enjoy the illusion of your perfection at least for this evening?
Emilia: Only if you promise not to punish me when you realize I'm not.
— I, Iago
Christian stared at her long and deeply, unheeding of the wind that smote him as he watched. Strange that he should have thought her so different from all the others, and been so afraid to take her that night of their wedding; afraid, almost, that she would perish in his embrace, die under his kiss...and even Leopold had known better than that...he had taken her, and she lived and smiled, like all the others. In his mind only had existed that creature too fine, too pure for mortal desire.
— General Crack, by Marjorie Bowen
"You never knew Lyanna as I did, Robert, [...] You saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath."
— Eddard Stark, A Song of Ice and Fire, A Game of Thrones
Sansa stared at [Joffrey], seeing him for the first time. He was wearing a padded crimson doublet patterned with lions and a cloth-of-gold cape with a high collar that framed his face. She wondered how she could ever have thought him handsome. His lips were as soft and red as the worms you found after a rain, and his eyes were vain and cruel. "I hate you," she whispered.
"Asha, it is time to go. Moat Cailin was the only thing holding back the tide. If we remain here, the northmen will kill us all, you know that."
"Would you have me run?"
"I would have you live. I love you."
No, she thought, you love some innocent maiden who lives only in your head, a frightened child in need of your protection. "I do not love you," she said bluntly, "and I do not run."
"Would you have me run?"
"I would have you live. I love you."
No, she thought, you love some innocent maiden who lives only in your head, a frightened child in need of your protection. "I do not love you," she said bluntly, "and I do not run."
He looked at her with eyes from which the last traces of scales had fallen. A lovely creature with the brains of a hen! He'd been mad—utterly and completely mad. But he was sane again now. And he'd got to get out of this fix. Unless he was careful she'd ruin his whole life.
Live-Action TV
Kids, in life there are a lot of big, romantic moments, and they make life worth living. But here's the problem. Moments pass. And lurking just around the corner from those moments is a cruel, unshaven bastard named reality.
— Future Ted, How I Met Your Mother, "Drumroll, Please"
Lorelai: You've always been this...possibility for me. This wonderful possibility. But it's just not right. And I'm so sorry. I am so sorry.
Christopher: Yeah. I guess I should've known, huh? It took me twenty years to get you to say yes.
Lorelai: I need you to know that you're the man I want to want.
Christopher: Yeah. I guess I should've known, huh? It took me twenty years to get you to say yes.
Lorelai: I need you to know that you're the man I want to want.
Niles: Help me understand, why is everyone acting like I've done something wrong? The only thing I am guilty of is loving Daphne, and that's all I've ever done.
Frasier: Yes, yes, and how did you love her? From afar. You were never in love with her, you were in love at her. Now, you've been given a chance to experience her in a real relationship and yet for some reason, you're resisting it. Rather than see her as she really is, you keep holding on to the fantasy.
Niles: No, that's not true.
Frasier: Niles, the woman gained sixty pounds, and everyone in the world saw it but you. All you ever saw was a perfect woman in a red dress.
[Pause. Niles sighs.]
Niles: Okay. If you're right - and that's a big "if" - why would I do that?
Frasier: Maybe Daphne's not the only one who's afraid she won't measure up. Maybe you're afraid too. After all, if it turns out that she's not perfect, then there's a chance things won't work out. Then not only will you lose Daphne, but you'll have wasted the last seven years of your life... chasing an illusion.
Frasier: Yes, yes, and how did you love her? From afar. You were never in love with her, you were in love at her. Now, you've been given a chance to experience her in a real relationship and yet for some reason, you're resisting it. Rather than see her as she really is, you keep holding on to the fantasy.
Niles: No, that's not true.
Frasier: Niles, the woman gained sixty pounds, and everyone in the world saw it but you. All you ever saw was a perfect woman in a red dress.
[Pause. Niles sighs.]
Niles: Okay. If you're right - and that's a big "if" - why would I do that?
Frasier: Maybe Daphne's not the only one who's afraid she won't measure up. Maybe you're afraid too. After all, if it turns out that she's not perfect, then there's a chance things won't work out. Then not only will you lose Daphne, but you'll have wasted the last seven years of your life... chasing an illusion.
—Frasier, "Daphne Returns"
"You want to know the horrible truth? I can't even remember what she looked like. I only know she was the one thing I ever wanted. Someone took her away from me, and seven kingdoms couldn't fill the hole she left behind."
—Robert Baratheon, Game of Thrones, "The Wolf and the Lion"
Music
Told me how I looked to you—I wouldn't call it real—
Told me that you shouldn't talk about the way you feel
But I had another drink—and I had another think—
And I still think you're the sweetest thing.
Told me that you shouldn't talk about the way you feel
But I had another drink—and I had another think—
And I still think you're the sweetest thing.
— Clouds, "Sweetest Thing"
"The idea you had of me, who was she?"
— Taylor Swift, "All Too Well (10-Minute Version)"
Theatre
Prince: I... shall always love the maiden who ran away.
Cinderella: And I the faraway prince.
Cinderella: And I the faraway prince.
Visual Novels
"When people get caught up [in] someone's shadows and memories of them, they can't move forward. Yoosung's been sad about Rika enough, and he needs to step out of her shadows. [...] So... I hope Yoosung realizes that you are not like Rika."
— Zen from Mystic Messenger, on Yoosung constantly comparing the MC to his dead cousin Rika in his route
Web Original
…except Snape kept carrying that torch for Lily. On paper it sounds sort of beautiful, but in actuality… that’s kind of creepy. More creepy for the fact that he gave up trying to make amends, and never attempted to form a similar relationship with anyone else. He kept a specific version of her in his head, built out of childhood memories and the moments he watched her from afar, and decided that was good enough. It didn’t stop him from offering Lily and her family up to Voldemort the instant he heard a helpful prophecy regarding Harry’s birth. He backtracked, because apparently he was fine with Voldemort killing Lily’s child and husband, the people whom she loved more than anything; he was only horrified at the thought of her death. And that’s not real love—caring for someone without considering their happiness is the exact opposite of love, in point of fact. It makes them an object of your affection rather than a subject.
...gracing below the perfection
I saw fitting to dress you in
my actions conditioning
an immortal image of you
etched on my eyelids
I saw fitting to dress you in
my actions conditioning
an immortal image of you
etched on my eyelids
— "You aren't the one for me"
, a poem by illusions of allusions
, a poem by illusions of allusionsWebcomics
"You almost had a date! But you got dumped at the last minute in favor of an epiphany."
."— Faye, Questionable Content
Western Animation
Charlotte: I have worked very hard to build this life for myself. I am happy here. And then you roll into my life like a hurricane. Why? Because we knew each other for five minutes 30 years ago? I don't know you!
BoJack: You do!
Charlotte: I don't. And you don't know me.
BoJack: You do!
Charlotte: I don't. And you don't know me.
Jamie: Then will you go out with me?
Garnet: No!
Jamie: But I've loved you since the moment I saw you.
Garnet: Love at first sight doesn't exist. Love takes time, and love takes work. At the very least you have to know the other person. And you literally have no idea of who, or what, I am.
Garnet: No!
Jamie: But I've loved you since the moment I saw you.
Garnet: Love at first sight doesn't exist. Love takes time, and love takes work. At the very least you have to know the other person. And you literally have no idea of who, or what, I am.
