“No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Merriam-Webster Defines of self-reliance as reliance on one's own efforts and abilities
Ralph Waldo Emerson may not have introduced the concept; it was he who brought it to the general public with his 1841 essay Self-Reliance. Self-Reliance contains Emerson’s beliefs and perspectives on how society negatively impacts our growth. He argues strongly that self-reliance, self-trust, and individualism, amongst other things, are ways that we can avoid the conformity imposed upon us.
Examples of Self-Reliance by Benjamin Spall
Self-reliance means different things to different people. The character traits most readily associated with self-reliance are, in no order:
• Reliability: You can be depended on to be consistent in everything you do.
• Perseverance: You keep going, weathering the storm through thick and thin.
• Dependability: You can be trusted to do what you say you’re going to do.
• Hardworking: You believe in the value of hard work and dedication.
• Self-discipline: You control your behaviors in order to improve your actions.
Being self-reliant allows you to survive the harshest of winters and the most brutal of summers. It gives you a sense of agency over yourself and your decisions. And while it isn’t an excuse to never seek help from others, it means you are no longer at the whim and mercy of those who may have other plans for you.
Notable Quotes
“The efficient man is the man who thinks for himself.”
Charles W. Eliot
“If it is to be, it is up to me.”
William H. Johnsen
“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you.”
Frank Tyger
Bible Verses
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV)
Additional Reading
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Taking Responsibility: Self-reliance and the Accountable Life by Nathaniel Branden
Point of Reflection
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson