Meaning of “The “I” in me, my friend, dwells in…”

The Madman, “My Friend”; the speaker contrasts the visible self with the quieter self that remains inaccessible.

The Prophet, section “Self-Knowledge.” A man asks Almustafa to speak about self-knowledge, and Almustafa answers with this line before describing the heart’s knowledge and the self as a boundless sea. The represented wording is the 1923 text preserved by Wikisource/Project Gutenberg #58585.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 edition, Chapter 17; Lord Henry answers the Duchess of Monmouth’s question “What are you?” with “To define is to limit.”

Heart of Darkness, Part I, Project Gutenberg #219. Marlow says ‘We live, as we dream—alone’ while explaining to his listeners that the lived ‘life-sensation’ of an earlier period cannot be fully conveyed to another person. The line remains fictional narration inside Conrad's colonial-era novella rather than a clinical or universal psychological finding about loneliness.

Human, All-Too-Human, Part I, aphorism 482, “Repeated Once More”; Helen Zimmern translation.

The Brothers Karamazov, Book II, Chapter 4, “A Lady of Little Faith,” Constance Garnett translation, verified against Project Gutenberg #28054 and Wikisource. Father Zossima tells the visitor, “Above all, don’t lie to yourself,” and develops the warning into an argument about self-deception, respect and love; this is fictional character counsel inside the novel.