The masses have no habit of self-reliance or original action.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that many people tend to rely on others rather than acting independently or taking initiative.
Ralph Waldo Emerson critiques the collective mindset of society, emphasizing that most individuals lack the courage and habit to think and act for themselves. This behavior leads to a reliance on the influence of others, eroding personal originality and self-reliance, which are essential qualities for individual growth and authentic living.
In practice
This quote can be used in a debate about individuality versus conformity.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
I have a very simple philosophy. One has to separate the abilities from the disabilities. The fact I cannot walk, that I need crutches or a scooter or whatever it is, has nothing to do with my playing the violin.
As a nuclear power - as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon - the United States has a moral responsibility to act.
Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.
Be silent. That heart speaks without tongue or lips.
For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine.
[Hermes addresses Prometheus :] To you, the clever and crafty, bitter beyond all bitterness, who has sinned against the gods in bestowing honors upon creatures of a day--to you, thief of fire, I speak.
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