Quotes, Quotes, Quotes

In class, Suzanne asked us to write down several quotations from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance.  These are mine.

“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” (80).  This reminds me of the Maryanne Williamson quote, which I think someone mentioned in class, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be?” 

“Do not think the youth has no force because he cannot speak to you and me” (80).  I think this one ties in really well with the first, in that both speak of underestimations.  Here, they are particularly dangerous because they carry hints of the low opinion of society.  When people are assumed to have “no force” because they are young, gay, black, poor, female, disabled...their force, their voice is stolen.  We can often achieve great things in the face of adversity, but sometimes adversity becomes too oppressive to overcome.  It could be argued that Emerson is wrong here, that the “youth” truly has no force when he cannot speak.  How can anyone have any power if eir voice has been stolen by eir oppressors?

“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.  Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it” (81).  I agree that good and bad are subjective terms, and that having wavering definitions of good and bad can get messy.  If something is good one day but bad the next, then how can we know if what we are doing is right?  I’m not sure how I feel about using our selves as standards of law, though. 

“Truth is handsomer than the affectation of love” (81).  I absolutely love this one because of all of the force contained in those eight words.  

"Why can't we talk like we used to?"



“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (81).  I often have trouble with this quote.  I care too much what other people think of me, which often leads to my compromising my true self.  I am like a chameleon in that my speech patterns, vocabulary, mannerisms, and even statements of opinion change depending on whom I am with.  One of the hardest things for me to do is talk to my cousin Neil.  I admire him greatly for his unabashed quirkiness and thorough knowledge on his wide range of interests.  I can happily sit for hours and listen to him talk about Chinese politics, walking around Chicago alone at night, or which Harry Potter actors have improved the most over the course of the movies.  But there always comes a point when he stops, looks me square in the eyes, and asks “what do you think?” And then my mind goes blank.  It is always at this moment when I realize that I don’t know what I think.  I could agree with him, or repeat a snippet of conversation from discussing the same topic with some friends, but I know he will always see right through me and peel back all the layers of bullshit until he is content that the thoughts I am putting forth are truly my own.  So instead I change the subject and ponder the question on my own until I can find the words to express myself. 

“speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon balls, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day” (82).  This quote always makes me think of politicians, and politicians always make me think of this quote.  I find it annoying that people rail against politicians for voting one way on a particular bill, but voting the other way when a similar bill comes up some months later.  Do these people not realize that politicians are human,  not robots, that opinions can—in a moment or gradually—be swayed, that minds can change?  I would rather the Powers That Be speak, vote, and act according to what they believe to be in the best interests of the people they represent, even if those beliefs change, rather than continuing to support ideas they no longer believe to be right or good.