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Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Note 156 — SELF-RELIANCE

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Trust thyself. This is the theme of the present essay, and is a lesson which Emerson is never tired of teaching. In The American Scholar he says:

"In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended." In the essay on Greatness:

"Self-respect is the early form in which greatness appears.... Stick to your own.... Follow the path your genius traces like the galaxy of heaven for you to walk in."

Carlyle says:

"The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself."

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