What does this quote mean?

“That her hand may be given with dignity, she must be able to stand alone.”

A relationship entered from the ability to stand independently can preserve dignity more fully than one made necessary by the inability to exist outside it.

Source note: Woman in the Nineteenth Century; Fuller connects the dignity of freely giving oneself in relationship with the prior ability to stand independently.

“You may give them your love but not your thoughts.”

Care can be generous without requiring another person to inherit every belief or preference.

Source note: The Prophet, “On Children.”

“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”

Emerson places inner integrity above conformity, arguing that a person should examine inherited standards rather than surrender judgment merely because they are socially approved.

Source note: Self-Reliance, in the passage beginning with Emerson’s argument for nonconformity.

“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.

“For the soul seeks not adorers, but peers.”

Respectful relationship is distinguished from worship or dependency: a developed person seeks equals capable of intelligent sympathy rather than admirers who surrender judgment.

Source note: Life Without and Life Within, in Fuller’s essay discussion of Goethe and the artistic mind; the line contrasts genuine peers with mere worshippers.