Self-Reliance Self-Reliance "Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow their own instincts and ideas. It is the source of one of Emerson's 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.” The first hint of the philosophy
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (Carlyle) the contents of the 1888 Chapman and Hall edition (4 vols. in 2). All articles were first collected in the 1838-1839 edition of "Critical and Miscellaneous Essays" unless otherwise stated. Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (Carlyle) Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838-1839) is the title of a collection of reprinted reviews and other magazine pieces by the Scottish philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle. Along with "Sartor Resartus" and "" it was one of the books that made his name. Its subject matter ranges from literary criticism (especially of German literature) to biography, history and social commentary. These essays have been described as