evidence: There are dozens of these legitimate Oscar-isms, but there’s no evidence that he ever said "Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Taken." Indeed, Wilde dropped epigrams about personal identity into the dialog of some of his novels and plays, as well as referring to it (often obliquely) in essays. For the most part, he discussed this in terms of "being natural" and the tendency for people to wear masks to conceal the way they really are. [...] As you know, Oscar Wilde is one of history’s greatest quote magnets, and something as profound and witty as "Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Taken" was almost bound to be attached to him eventually. [...] Although the internet-driven "be yourself; everyone else is taken" quotation is usually thought of a humorous and witty way to encourage positive self-worth, Merton’s quote stresses warnings about the effects of concentrating excessively on one’s self. And, of course, by saying "I reserve the right to forget about being myself," Merton argued that we should think beyond "being yourself." A great many of his other writings deal with this conflict in human understanding and behavior — how to be yourself but not be obsessed with being yourself, and they make for very reflective reading