Ralph Waldo Emerson argues that conformity is the enemy of greatness, urging readers to trust their own instincts over the pressure of society, tradition, and even their own past consistency.
Books mentioned in Self-Reliance (2)
The Honest Man's Fortune by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher: epigraph: 'Man is his own star...' — Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune.
Bonduca by John Fletcher: “Caratach, in Fletcher's Bonduca, when admonished to inquire the mind of the god Audate, replies...”
Books that mention Self-Reliance (2)
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom: “the major instance of the American replacement of dramatic mono logue by the epic of Self-Reliance, to employ Emerson's term (may denote either the essay title or Bloom's use of it as Emerson's coined term; included as a specific named work)”
Reamde by Neal Stephenson: “"I guess I started with Emerson's essay 'On Self-Reliance' and just followed the trail from there," he said.”