Be-all and end-all

To be the be-all and end-all is to be the dominant or supreme factor. It can also be used to describe someone who has an insufferable, over-inflated opinion of themselves. The origin is pure Shakespeare, from Macbeth Act I, Scene VII where Macbeth is musing to himself about murdering King Duncan of Scotland so as to become king himself and states that this 'might be the be-all and the end-all".