Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self-Reliance
Name
Institution
Self-Reliance
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency, a great soul has simply nothing to do?
In this statement, Emerson means that fools are little minds who like pleasing others. Thus they only do things that will please other people. However, there are people who do great things without fear of what will be said to them. Fools consistently pursue the same things with the fear of trying out something new, thus they cannot achieve greatness. That is why, a person thus needs to know when it is time for a change as one can make their tomorrow different but one needs to leave behind their theories and pursue their dreams.
“little statesmen and philosophers” and the misunderstood
The misunderstood as per Emerson refer to the people who courageously pursue greatness without the fear of others. On the other side, the statesmen and philosophers are those who mock and misunderstand others based on the decisions they make. The difference between them is that the former are great achievers as they fear no one or what they can say while the latter are judgmental and concern themselves with others thus they are little minds.
“To be great is to be misunderstood.”
In this quote, Emerson tries to emphasize to people that what one does, not have to appeal to everyone (Emerson, 1841). This means that when a person is doing something original and…