Finishing off the week’s theme
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. 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.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Self Reliance
“but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
That has always been one of my favorites quotes, and inspiration for how I try to live my life. I found it when I was around 14 and just starting to develop my Libertarian spirit. Maintaining the independent spirit is the easy part. The hard part is still being able to “succeed” in social situations without being the awkward rightwinger.
“but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
That has always been one of my favorites quotes, and inspiration for how I try to live my life. I found it when I was around 14 and just starting to develop my Libertarian spirit. Maintaining the independent spirit is the easy part. The hard part is still being able to succeed in social situations without being the awkward “rightwinger.”