“With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)
Self-Reliance (Primary source)
Perhaps Emerson’s most famous essay, Self-Reliance passionately urges individuals to trust their own instincts and intuitions rather than conforming to societal pressures or external authorities. It champions nonconformity, self-trust, and the power of the individual. Its famous opening line, Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string, encapsulates its core message.
“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)“In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)“The law of nature is, Do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)More quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson →
“Nothing is beneath you, if it is in the direction of your life: nothing is great or desirable, if it is off from that.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (verified)“Nothing so popular as goodness.”
— Benjamin Franklin (verified)