What does this quote mean?

“I am larger, better than I thought, I did not know I held so much goodness.”

Whitman describes self-discovery as expansion rather than invention: experience reveals capacities and goodness that were already present but insufficiently recognized.

Source note: Song of the Open Road, section 5, after the speaker describes loosening imagined limits.

“Insist on yourself; never imitate.”

Originality begins with developing one’s own capacities rather than copying another person’s surface style.

Source note: Self-Reliance; Emerson gives the imperative while arguing for originality, self-trust, and resistance to imitation rather than dependence on another person’s model.

“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.

Source note: An Ideal Husband, Act III, spoken by Lord Goring immediately before the lifelong-romance line.

“It is not selfish to think for oneself.”

Independent thought is distinguished from selfishness: forming one’s own judgment can protect individuality without requiring indifference to other people.

Source note: The Soul of Man under Socialism; Wilde defends individual thought while criticizing social pressure that mistakes conformity for moral virtue.

“The noble soul has reverence for itself.”

The line connects nobility with an inward standard of dignity rather than dependence on applause, rank, or approval from other people.

Source note: Beyond Good and Evil, section 287, Helen Zimmern translation; capitalization modernized from the source edition.

“Let no one shake your faith in yourself.”

The brief command protects an internal source of confidence from being surrendered automatically to criticism or discouragement from outside.

Source note: The Victorious Attitude; the sentence is followed by explicitly religious language about faith, so the source page keeps that spiritual context visible.