“I am my world.”

Kupfer, David, "Utah Phillips" http://progressive.org/mag/interview/utahphillips, The Progressive. September 2003. Web. August 6, 2013.

Source: Leaves of Grass

Cold Mountain Transcendental Poetry
Context: Today I sat before the cliff
Until the mist and rainbows disappeared
I followed the emerald stream
Explored a thousand tiers of green cliffs
In the morning my spirit rests among white clouds
At night a bright moon floats in the sky
I am free of the busy world
There is not a doubt in my heart or a worry to disturb my mind

"When I Shall Fight," Appeal to Reason (11 September 1915) https://socialistworker.org/2004-1/500/500_06_Zinn.php

Voice: Young Man
1840s, Repetition (1843)
Context: One sticks one’s finger into the soil to tell by the smell in what land one is: I stick my finger in existence — it smells of nothing. Where am I? Who am I? How came I here? What is this thing called the world? What does this world mean? Who is it that has lured me into the world? Why was I not consulted, why not made acquainted with its manners and customs instead of throwing me into the ranks, as if I had been bought by a kidnapper, a dealer in souls? How did I obtain an interest in this big enterprise they call reality? Why should I have an interest in it? Is it not a voluntary concern? And if I am to be compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I should like to make a remark to him. Is there no director? Whither shall I turn with my complaint?

Preface (1 February 1834)
A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (1834)
Context: I know, that obscure as I am, my name is making a considerable deal of fuss in the world. I can't tell why it is, nor in what it is to end. Go where I will, everybody seems anxious to get a peep at me … There must therefore be something in me, or about me, that attracts attention, which is even mysterious to myself.

Je ne vois qu'une règle: être clair. Si je ne suis pas clair, tout mon monde est anéanti.
Letter to Honoré de Balzac, Civita Vecchia (30 October 1840)

Here Comes There Goes You Know Who (1961)

Act I, sc. vi
Don Carlos (1787)