2. The only way to have a friend is to be one” “To be great is to be misunderstood” “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”

3. TRANSCENDENTALISM The universe is connected to the individual through nature By contemplating nature, one can transcend the world and be united with the “Over-Soul” One must follow his own intuition and beliefs, no matter how they stray from those of society

4. WHO WAS EMERSON? Happily married, upright, kind, and seemingly conventional Held the VERY unconventional view that reality is derived through intuition, not the senses

5. SUPPORTERS Thoreau Walt Whitman Emily Dickenson nearly worshipped him as a fountain of inspiration

6. BACKGROUND 8 years old when his father, a Unitarian minister, died Mother took in boarders to save money for her 4 sons to attend college Earned a degree in divinity from Harvard Married Ellen Tucker in 1829; she died 2 years later and left him financially secure Married Lydia Jackson in 1834 and began writing

7. SELF RELIANCE Many famous quotes: Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.

8. EMERSON- WHAT TO REMEMBER: Key intellectual and philosophical voice of the 19th century Spread the philosophy of Transcendentalism Propelled individualism to the forefront of the American conscience First voiced democracy and ordinary experience as unique American themes