Selection from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essay “Self-Reliance”

In which the renowned philosopher encourages us to follow our own true self by sticking to our own inner voice and by being honest and sincere in our relationships with others. We create self-reliance — the essence of both faith and optimism. What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.