I told Joe that I felt very miserable, and that I hadn’t been able to explain myself to Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook, who were so rude to me, and that there had been a beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s who was dreadfully proud, and that she had said I was common, and that I knew I was common, and that I wished I was not common, and that the lies had come of it somehow, though I didn’t know how.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 9. Pip explains his motivation for making up sensational stories about a velvet coach, giant dogs, and being fed from gold plates during his visit to Satis House. It was to cover up his shame at feeling he was common, after the beautiful young Estella Havisham told him so.