“He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.”
The joke distinguishes healthy self-respect from vanity by showing how self-adoration can become a closed competition with everyone else.
Poor Richard’s Almanack.
“The only possible society is oneself.”
The comic exaggeration makes self-company part of Wilde’s joke about society while still centering comfort with oneself.
An Ideal Husband, Act III; Lord Goring tells Phipps “The only possible society is oneself” immediately before the lifelong-romance epigram. Verified against the public-domain Wikisource Act III transcription and Project Gutenberg #885; the line remains dandyish comic character speech rather than uncomplicated authorial doctrine.
“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie.”
Before assuming rescue must come from outside, the line asks what capacity, choice, or effort is already available within.
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act I, Scene 1; Helena resolves to act rather than ascribe every possibility to fate. Verified against Wikisource’s 1910 facsimile transcription of the 1623 First Folio (folio spelling “Our remedies oft in our selues do lye”); direct evidence resolves to the reviewed Act I transcription.
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”
The sentence places lasting peace in self-command rather than approval, status, or external circumstances.
Essay “Self-Reliance.”
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
Polonius frames integrity as consistency between inward conviction and outward conduct, although the advice belongs to a fallible fictional counselor.
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3; Polonius gives Laertes this advice before Laertes leaves for France.
“I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve.”
The line combines joy with humility: Wentworth recognizes that his renewed happiness exceeds what his earlier pride and mistakes make him feel he has earned.
Persuasion, Chapter XXIII. Captain Frederick Wentworth says this to Anne Elliot while reflecting on the six years of separation his pride helped prolong.
“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.
Near the close of “Song of Myself”; Whitman turns self-expression into a large, physical cry.
