Most people are other people.
The Book of Mirrors“Most people are other people.” is an aphorism attributed to Oscar Wilde that opens The Book of Mirrors before Part One. Its compact claim makes identity relational: a person may be understood not as wholly self-originating, but through the people whose influence or likeness becomes part of them.
Meaning and Attribution
The sentence turns on the repetition of “people”: rather than describing individuals as entirely separate, it suggests that one person can carry traces of others. The book prints Oscar Wilde’s name beneath the aphorism, presenting it as an attributed quotation rather than as dialogue spoken by a character.
Placement in the Book
The aphorism appears before the heading “Part One,” which is followed by the name Peter Katz. In that opening position, it serves as a threshold into the narrative, inviting attention to how identity and other people may be connected. The available passage establishes this placement and attribution without specifying a further source or context for Wilde’s words.
