Self-Reliance

What is Emerson's central argument in the essay?

• Society should govern individual behavior.

• People should follow traditions for stability.

• Individuals should trust their own instincts and ideas.

• Material success determines self-worth.

What is the best translation of this?

Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

• We never know what will happen later in life so we have to let go of shame.

• We should not let strangers tell us what to do because we are capable of thinking for ourselves.

• If we don't speak out now, someone will express our thoughts later and we can no longer claim it as our original thought.

• Other people feel the same way as we do, so our thoughts and feelings are valid.

What is the best translation of this?

The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.

• Men are meant to be farmers, and no crops will be earned if no lands are tilled.

• God has appointed leaders with the power to know and understand His word accurately.

• You are unique, and you're the only one who knows your full potential, so put yourself out there and try.

• People make mistakes, and each mistake is a new lesson to be better.

According to this quote, in lieu of self-reliance, what does society demands of its members?

Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion.

• Virtue

• Liberty and culture

• Conformity

• Manhood

According to this quote, why do some people display 'good' characteristics like charity or courage?

Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world,--as invalids and the insane pay a high board. Their virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate, but to live.

• Because they are faking it, and they actually mean people harm

• Because God told them to be good

• Because they are atoning for their flaws or shortcomings

• Because they want to justify their place in society

According to this quote, what is Emerson's problem with consistency?

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.

• We need to be consistent with our actions if we want people to take us seriously.

• Growth does not just encompass one day. It takes multiple days of consistent work, and it can be tiring.

• We are scared of being inconsistent with our actions because we might come across as hypocrites.

• We are trying so hard to stay the same that we leave no room for change and growth.

Which of these is a good representation of Emerson's views on consistency?

• "A great man is coming to eat at my house. I do not wish to please him; I wish that he should wish to please me."

• "Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions."

• "Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day."

• "We pass for what we are. Character teaches above our wills."

In relation to tradition as he references Pythagoras, Jesus and Galileo, what does Emerson mean with this quote, "To be great is to be misunderstood"?

• Nobody gets why we do the things we do.

• Traditions are set to keep simple-minded people from seeing greatness.

• Great minds challenge norms and are not immediately accepted.

• Nobody understands what it means to be great.

What is Emerson's views on consistency?

• It is a sign of intelligence and self-reliance.

• It is essential for maintaining credibility.

• It prevents personal growth and should be avoided.

• It is an important bridge to one's faith.

What is Emerson's issue with religious proceedings as shown in this quote?

If, therefore, a man claims to know and speak of God, and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old mouldered nation in another country, in another world, believe him not.

• He asserts that self-reliant people live for the present.

• He claims that religion has no place in the modern world.

• He warns against people who rely on rigid, repeated interpretations of religious beliefs.

• He states that a modern interpretation of the Bible is needed rather than the old version set in foreign lands that most (all) people at that time haven't seen.