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3rd out of 89 books
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19 voters
Self-Reliance and Other Essays
The 6 essays and one address in this volume outline the great transcendentalist's moral idealism as well as hinting at the later scepticism that colored his thought. In addition to the celebrated title essay, the others included here are "History," "Friendship," "The Over-Soul," "The Poet" and "Experience," plus the well-kn...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
October 13th 1993
by Dover Publications
(first published 1975)
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when i read this i was 20 and under the impression that what was shitty about the world and people could be changed and that me and my friends could make an impact for the better on people just by talking to them and reasoning with them.
since then i've lost god and watch w "win" back to back elections, so I guess you could say i'm a bit more jaded.
still, i like a lot of what emerson says. self-reliance cannot be underestimated. if only we chided ourselves for our mistakes...more
since then i've lost god and watch w "win" back to back elections, so I guess you could say i'm a bit more jaded.
still, i like a lot of what emerson says. self-reliance cannot be underestimated. if only we chided ourselves for our mistakes...more
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Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
A foolish consistency is the hobg...more
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
A foolish consistency is the hobg...more
Ralph Waldo Emerson is the greatest writer who ever lived. I carry his collected essays around like a Mormon carries the Book of Mormon. Though I don't ride a bike. No one has every offered up more wisdom, with such jazzy tempo and energetic flow. He has a more extensive vocabulary than Shakespeare, and I believe he was the first writer who suffered from A.D.D. It is like the great UCLA professor Coulecourcio once said, "It's as if his sentences don't know each other." I appreciate tha...more
Emerson's transcendental philosophy is interesting in how it sidesteps a lot of the problems associated with similar views. Though very similar in its emphasis on the power of the imagination to Romanticism, and though Emerson makes some really outrageous claims, he has a manner of writing and argumentation that is so assured and clear that sometimes it doesn't matter that he's wrong, or at least limited, because he's inspiring in his wrongness, and wrong only in a rigorous philosophical sense. ...more
Nathaniel Hawthorne best captured Emmerson's Transcendentalism in his short story The Celestial Railroad (inspired by Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress). He says, "He [i.e. Giant Transcendentalism] shouted after us, but in so strange a phraseology that we knew not what he meant, nor whether to be encouraged or affrighted."
Emerson’s essays are filled with feel-good rhetoric on being “one with the Oversoul.” He lectures on “originality” while borrowing ideas from Eastern religions ...more
Emerson’s essays are filled with feel-good rhetoric on being “one with the Oversoul.” He lectures on “originality” while borrowing ideas from Eastern religions ...more
I adore Emerson, and Self Reliance is my favorite of all his essays!
Being a non-conformist is fine. But that doesn’t mean you are exempt from the moral code of the society in which you live, or that you are superior to those around you. Or that that God is speaking through the genuine actions of your pure, undying soul. After reading “Self-Reliance”, I understand why so many reviews of this essay begin by saying that this was formerly a much-loved read during high school. The main ideas here are straight from the diary of an angst-ridden, over-privileged, se...more
I had read this when I was in high school and I remember having liked it very much. Now, not so much. But what a freeing guy Emerson is. You can read what I wrote. Or not read it. Or like it. Or criticize it. Emerson whispers in my ear, “What care you?”
“Self-Reliance” by Emerson
“Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again…”
What a great line. I think I’ll open...more
“Self-Reliance” by Emerson
“Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again…”
What a great line. I think I’ll open...more
I'm not that big into non-fiction. It's strange as I enjoy learning as a general rule, but non-fiction is too close to being like a textbook to me. Emerson, thanks to the time; when the written word held more value, and more thought was given due to the effort it took to write it; put forth the ideal of America, particularly through literature. Due to him authors like Melville, Hawthorne, Whitman, Thoreau, Douglas, and, to a lesser extent Beecher-Stowe brought a new wave of modernity to liter...more
Okay....Sooooo....I didn't understand half of this. It reads to me like the book of Proverbs. There are random sentences that I get and the the rest I was thinking, "what?" You could pick a random paragraph and get some good mental food to chew on. The only reason I'm giving it a two was because I really didn't understand a lot of it, not because it isn't good.
I read this because my daughter is reading it for her scholar class. I hope she has better luck with it then I did.
I read this because my daughter is reading it for her scholar class. I hope she has better luck with it then I did.
"Ne te quaesiveris extra."
i loved these essays in high school despite having to read emerson for a presentation. this is one book i really wish were here on my shelf and not back in indiana.
"So use all that is called Fortune. Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls. But do thou leave as unlawful these winnings, and deal with Cause and Effect, the chancellors of God. In the Will work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wh...more
i loved these essays in high school despite having to read emerson for a presentation. this is one book i really wish were here on my shelf and not back in indiana.
"So use all that is called Fortune. Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls. But do thou leave as unlawful these winnings, and deal with Cause and Effect, the chancellors of God. In the Will work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wh...more
"it was amazing" is kind of a bunk way to rate this book. I've loved Emerson's essays since I was introduced to them as a teenager and find that many of them are worth revisiting again and again every couple of years (if you're of a sappy nature, they are especially enjoyable to read while sitting under a tree in on a springtime afternoon). Solid and comforting.
The essay "Self-Reliance" has been immensely important to me. If ever you are going through tough times, or feel that you are not being treated as well as you deserve, or fear that you are too dependent on another person for your happiness, or are just wondering about what it really means to have personal identity, read this essay. It's incredible.
Amazingly clear and relevant. Somehow it changed from the first time I read it at age 16. Okay, I changed, realizing that when this transcendalist was referring to genius, it was less about an individual aspect and more about the deeper interconnection and interbeing talked about in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Nancy
marked it as to-read
Emerson has always been the kind of writer that I never could sit myself down to read; Emerson and Thoreau. However, years later out of college and I think I'm finally getting to understand him. His essay on Compensation hooked me in, and now I want to see how much more I can handle. ;-)
I first read Emerson in an Early American Lit class in college. I don't think I would have gotten into his writing if it wasn't done in a classroom setting though because it's not easy reading.
Anyway, I think he was brilliant and innovative. Self Reliance is my all-time favorite essay.
Anyway, I think he was brilliant and innovative. Self Reliance is my all-time favorite essay.
this book really opened my eyes to obtaining genuinely positive & natural feelings. some of the most original, and inspiring words and phrases i have ever happened upon. hopefully i can edit this because i'd love to write more, just trying to get some stuff on here.
Self-Reliance is the best essay by far. I like that fact that he was so hell bent on everyone thinking for themselves. He was a great proponent of the rise of the individual and that ideology is still an important part of American culture.
Pure and simple... "Self-Reliance" was life-altering. My personal philosophy of life is largely grounded in the ideals that are so well articulated and espoused in this short work. It's like scripture to me.
Sarah
added it
Emerson's address to Harvard Divinity School, "Self-Reliance" as a text has had the most resonance in my life. Time and again I go back to it and look to it to give me more meaning, new meaning, and a renewed sense of self.
I must say that I love Emerson! Sometimes it's a little difficult to get through his work. It's not particularly entertaining, but it's full of amazing advice. Emerson had the right idea about life and I love his work.
I don't normally read essays but I love the outdoors and was hoping that Emerson would make sense to me. He is a transcendentalist but he is also a philosopher and a preacher. I really connected with parts of his essays but then he often went past where the topic should have gone and I found my mind wandering away. I liked the first part of Nature. That is what I thought most of the essays would be like but then it started to drag on. I liked most of Experience too. He was writing in the 1800s s...more
There is a reason that nearly every high school graduation valedictorian/salutatorian speech quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson. Self-Reliance and Other Essays makes the reasons for this phenomenon clear.
I love Ralph Waldo! I can only understand 1 out of every 5 things he says, but the parts I am getting are brilliant. I hear the American Scholar essay is fantastic. Can't wait to read it.
AHHH we have so much alike, it's creepy! Soul frienddd ♥
List of essays in order from most awesome to least awesome:
1. Self-Reliance
2. Friendship
3. Circles
4. Love
5. Gifts
List of essays in order from most awesome to least awesome:
1. Self-Reliance
2. Friendship
3. Circles
4. Love
5. Gifts
A great idea that I think we are all trying to achieve. Although, I think there is something to be said for community based action.
Teton Co Library call number:814.3 EMERSON
Teton Co Library call number:814.3 EMERSON
Wow....When I read someone as gifted as RWE, I feel like Mr. Potato head. Have I ever really had an original thought? Very inspirational and also very challenging. KLW
Not an easy read. though a bit turned off by his style, I did fight "Self-Reliance" and "The Divinity School Address" worthwhile. Maybe I overread him, and should only read one essay every few months. Then I could digest his writing. I do see him as the grandfather everyone knew they "should" listen to, but just can't relate to his language, so they miss out on valuable insights.
I should read Self-Reliance every year, make it an annual event, a reminder to be true to myself. A literary prescription for confidence, peace and presence of mind.
I think this is one of those books that should be in a study group---especially the essay "Self-Reliance". I have to go real slow with reading this, because it provokes alot of 'thought' energy.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century.
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“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
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“Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for.”
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