Wit & Attitude Quote by Robert Brault

A lifetime of self-editing, then the slow panic that no one has seen the unedited version. Brault’s line lands because it frames identity as a covert operation: we “perfect” a disguise the way a professional refines a con, not out of malice, but out of survival. The verb choice is doing the heavy lifting. “Perfected” suggests skill, repetition, even pride. By the time the mask fits, it’s no longer a temporary cover; it’s a craft.

The subtext is bleakly tender: most of us aren’t mainly trying to deceive others, we’re trying to avoid the costs of being accurately perceived. The disguise is social competence turned defensive architecture. It’s the curated personality for work, the agreeable self for family, the ironic detachment for friends who punish sincerity. Brault smuggles in a second, sharper point: the more convincing the performance, the lonelier the performer. If everyone buys it, intimacy becomes impossible, because intimacy requires the risk of being “foolable” in the first place.

That final clause - “someone we don’t fool” - flips the usual moral of authenticity. It’s not “be yourself.” It’s: we crave a witness who can see through us and stay anyway. The search becomes a paradox: we want recognition without exposure, acceptance without the humiliation of being fully known. In a culture that rewards brand management, Brault makes the longing underneath it sound almost inevitable - and quietly tragic.