Source identified
“The only possible society is oneself.”
Voice: Fictional character · Lord Goring
The comic exaggeration makes self-company part of Wilde’s joke about society while still centering comfort with oneself.
Source note: An Ideal Husband, Act III, spoken by Lord Goring immediately before the lifelong-romance line.
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“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie.”
Voice: Fictional character · Helena
Before assuming rescue must come from outside, the line asks what capacity, choice, or effort is already available within.
Source note: All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 1, Scene 1.
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“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”
The sentence places lasting peace in self-command rather than approval, status, or external circumstances.
Source note: Essay “Self-Reliance.”
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“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
Voice: Fictional character · Polonius
Polonius frames integrity as consistency between inward conviction and outward conduct, although the advice belongs to a fallible fictional counselor.
Source note: Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3; Polonius gives Laertes this advice before Laertes leaves for France.
Source identified
“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”
The exuberant image celebrates unapologetic self-expression and a voice that refuses to become small merely to fit social expectations.
Source note: Near the close of “Song of Myself”; Whitman turns self-expression into a large, physical cry.
Source identified
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
Voice: Fictional character · Lord Goring
The line playfully treats self-acceptance not as a one-time achievement but as a relationship that lasts throughout life.
Source note: An Ideal Husband, Act 3; Lord Goring delivers the lifelong-romance epigram in Wilde’s social comedy, where self-regard is framed through deliberate wit.