Self-Reliance

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"Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of his recurrent themes: the need for each person to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow their own instincts and ideas. It is the source of one of his most famous quotations: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." This essay is an analysis into the nature of the "aboriginal self on which a universal reliance may be grounded". Emerson emphasizes the importance of individualism and its effect on a person's satisfaction in life, explaining how life is "learning and forgetting and learning again".

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