Love Quote by William Wycherley

Wycherley lands the line like a poisoned compliment, the kind Restoration comedy specialized in: praise that doubles as accusation. "Women of quality" sounds like deference, but it’s really a lab label. He’s talking about the upper-class women who move through drawing rooms trained in politeness so exact it can counterfeit intimacy. The barb is that "love" and "good breeding" become indistinguishable not because love is refined, but because refinement is performative. Civility here isn’t kindness; it’s a social technology.

The intent is cynical and strategic. Wycherley’s stage thrives on the gap between what characters must seem and what they want. By suggesting you "can hardly distinguish" genuine feeling from etiquette, he flatters male suspicion and gives it a clever slogan. In a world where reputation is currency, a woman’s warmth can be read as flirtation or merely proper manners, and the men in these plays exploit that ambiguity to justify pursuit, jealousy, or moral outrage. If you can’t tell desire from decorum, you can treat either as consent and blame her for the confusion.

Context matters: Restoration London is newly reopened theatres, libertine swagger, and a rigid class order policing female sexuality while celebrating male appetite as wit. "Quality" signals both status and supposed virtue; Wycherley undercuts both, implying the elite are simply better trained at acting. The line works because it makes hypocrisy sound like sophistication, then lets the audience enjoy the cruelty of recognizing it.