Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Self-Reliance, in Essays · “Self-Reliance”
Original English. 1841 essay. Original English; an editorial footnote marker is omitted.
Emerson asks the reader to take an inward judgment seriously instead of borrowing a life from public approval. That is different from assuming that every instinct is correct. A person can listen to evidence and still refuse to let popularity make the decision. Self-trust is most useful when it includes the willingness to examine why a choice feels right and to revise it when necessary. Otherwise confidence becomes another form of confinement. In an everyday decision, the question may be whether a preference has been considered honestly, or dismissed simply because it is difficult to explain to the people whose approval matters.
A question for today
Which considered preference have you dismissed mainly because others might disapprove?
