3 Things Ralph Waldo Emerson Can Teach Us About Self-reliance
The virtue in most requests is conformity. Self-reliance is going against the grain.
On “Self-Reliance”
These are the voices that we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most requests is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness but must explore if it is goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” ―RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803- 1883)
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American poet, essayist, and philosopher known for challenging traditional thought.
