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Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essay On Self Reliance

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Self reliance is a concept that has independence as its core value. Kim and Isma’il (2013) defined self-reliance as the ability to think and act without the help or influence of others. It is the ability that an individual develops that will enable him or her to make personal decisions. Self reliance is opposed to being dependent on other individuals or other social institutions for assistance that could be personal in nature. Idiaghe (2011) opined that an individual that is self reliant will rely on his or her own abilities and efforts, which connotes that such an individual is independent. The fact that such an individual wants to be independent does not imply that pride has set in, it only implies personal beliefs and conviction that it is possible to stand alone and survive without external inputs. …show more content…

He was one of the very early writers to have used the word self-reliance. In fact, Marinova and Hossain (2006) were even of the opinion that the word self reliance was coined by Emerson in the essay published in 1841 titled, the essay on self reliance. In this essay, Emerson relates self reliance with the trust that an individual has which is present in his or her thoughts, skills, originality, belief in one’s capabilities and genius that are from within. One very important quote from the essay is, “envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide”. This highlights the fact that individuals need to understand themselves and their environment in other to be independent and successful. They need to be original and not simply copy or envy other

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