Monday, November 30, 2009

Emerson Aphorisms

Please cite the aphorism that struck you the most in "Self Reliance". An aphorism is a short statment that expresses wise or clever observations about life. Please elaborate on its meaning and the overall significance and connection to you. Was there anything you disagreed with regarding Emerson's insights? Explain.

15 comments:

  1. "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think." I like this quote because it says you don’t have to do what everyone expects. It says to do things that matter to you, and not to anyone else. I try to do thing that I think are right. I don’t always want to do what people think I should do. That is the big reason I like this quote. I don’t totally disagree. It does seem as if we do have to make do with what we have, and make things fit to our needs. That is something we could always work on.

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  2. "That envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide" I loved this quote because it encourages people to be original. a person who envies another is blind to their own talents and when a person stops seeing what is good about them they begin to imitate the other person and that is were they "kill" who they really are. This quote is about being yourself and how if you are going to create something and do something you should make sure it's you who’s really doing it.

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  3. "it loves not realities and creators, but names and customs." I think this quote is true because society focuses not on nature and the meaning of life but rather promotes envy and self infatuation. In today's culture, a title or phisical object is worth much more than knowledge and an understanding of the universe around you. A quote I disagreed with was, "...Imitation is suicide". In my opinion, imitation promotes and inspires creativity and should not be looked down upon.

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  4. The quote I took away most from this reading was "Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide." This quote speaks volumes to me because in today's society it is so easy to envy others for what they have or what they look like and many times people try to imitate others so they can look or have what they want. Especially for teenagers, it is very easy to have insecurities in the way you look or the things you have because of the way that society flaunts the things celebrities have and the way models look. I think it takes a lot for people to actually be themselves. As a part of human nature, we are natuarally envious because of sin. Be yourself and don't envy others. If you look at what others have you will be blind to what you are blessed with and the person you are.

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  5. The aphorism that I found most compelling was "nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Emerson talks a lot about being yourself in this text, and no other quote says it quite like this one. He tells us that without a mind of our own, we become a conformist, a person who cannot think for themself. I found myself nodding and agreeing while reading Emerson's text. I agreed with everything that I could understand.

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  6. There were two quotes that stuck out to me in Emerson’s writing. The first being “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” This is a strong statement trying to make the point to be your “own” and not to envy others because you are unique and no one else is like you. “It [conformity] loses you time and blurs the impression of your character…do your work, and I shall know you.” This quote has similar meaning to the to the last in the way that it is trying to portray to be a vivid individual, to stick out so you will be known, so “[he] shall know you.” I like how Emerson is bold about being independent and an individual and not sticking with the multitude.

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  7. I thought the most meaningful aphorism was "...envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide." I found this an extremely important and powerful quote because envy is all through our lives. As a society, people desire what others have and to be different from themselves. Most people have an idol that they look up to, but can sometimes go too far, such as wanting to be that person. I thought this quote was a good way to summarize the overall text, and a short way of saying that people need to be themselves and not anything else.

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  8. "The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency. It is hard to have confidence in our selves because of our past. We stick to what we know works and are afraid to try something that we failed to accomplish again.

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  10. “Imitation is suicide.” I think that what Emerson said was relatively accurate. Followers are un-original people; however I think that in today’s society, it is nearly impossible to even be original. People have a natural need to fit in, even if they don’t know it. If a certain style is in demand people try to fit that specific profile. But in our own individual ways we all stand out. When you remember a friend or a family member you don’t remember them on a first name basis, you remember them because of there personality, even if they don’t have one. I think that what Emerson said is closely related to the saying “actions speak loader than words” because for the most part that is true. Unless you are a person that chooses to say absolutely nothing to absolutely anyone, chances of you being remembered are high.

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  11. “Imitation is suicide.” I believe that we should all try to think for our selves and become our own person and avoid conformity and tradition thinking at all possible costs. However, I’m worried about hard it would be to break the traditional thinking after years of it. As a society we have become used to the fact that we can not think for our selves. This is why that quote stuck out to me because it shines a light on how hard it would be to break conformity.

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  12. "TO believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,-- that is genius." I treuly believe that what this means is that if you are able to believe in your own thoughts and who you are as an individual. But dont you think that even if it is your own thought that if some one else persents it just means that you are in the same thought wave and its a good idea? It also seems like Emerson had a revolation saying that what he wrote was "genius", giving himself a compliment. But i think he wanted the reader to know that its okay to have indiviual thought, that what you belive to be true is that persons thought. i also think that your heart and thoughts are connected and if you are not listening to your heart, then your thoughts are going to be all scrambled.

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  13. The quote that most affected me was "Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide." This quote affected me because I believe that following what everyone else does a person loses themselves and just becomes another unimportant person in life. Envy is just one way to show how petty we are and how much we want to be like others. Conforming is a destruction of personality and should be avoided as best as it can be.

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  14. "Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide." I fully believe in this quote. The last book I read was about being your self and be independent. When he says "imitation is suicide", he is saying to not do what others already have. Be yourself and be the first to do something and not follow others. Be who you want to be and be your own person.

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  15. The quote "Envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide" was what struck me the most interesting. At first I thought it was a little harsh and extreme, but the more I thought about it, i agree with Emerson. Imitating another person means that you are not being yourself or letting yourself live. So I do agree with whay he said about how imitation is suicide. And with what he said about how envy is ignorance I agree with. This is true because you should be happy with yourself and your own qualities and not envious of what other people have that you don't. No good can come from envy.

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