<P> `` Self - Reliance '' is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson . It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson 's recurrent themes , the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency , and follow their own instincts and ideas . It is the source of one of Emerson 's most famous quotations : `` A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds , adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines . '' This essay is an analysis into the nature of the `` aboriginal self on which a universal reliance may be grounded . '' </P>
<P> `` Self - Reliance '' is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson . It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson 's recurrent themes , the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency , and follow their own instincts and ideas . It is the source of one of Emerson 's most famous quotations : `` A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds , adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines . '' This essay is an analysis into the nature of the `` aboriginal self on which a universal reliance may be grounded . '' </P>
who said consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds
who said consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson