Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Genuine
Yes. In Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.
Found word for word by program in the full text.
- Work
- Essays: First Series (Essays), 1841
- Where
- Essay II, “Self-Reliance”
- Found at
- Paragraph 67 of the text
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
[…] It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. […]
What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text in the face and behavior of children, babes, and even brutes! […]
The nonchalance of boys who are sure of a dinner, and would disdain as much as a lord to do or say aught to conciliate one, is the healthy attitude of human nature. […]
The scene
Near the opening of the essay, Emerson has argued that each person has a distinctive power which imitation suppresses. He urges trust in that power while accepting the historical circumstances in which one has been placed. He immediately connects self-trust with providence and with serving as a guide and benefactor rather than withdrawing from difficulty.
What it means
Trust your own inward capacity and act from it within the circumstances of your life.
Often misread
Detached from its next sentence, self-trust can sound like a promise that every impulse is right or that circumstances do not matter. The passage joins inward confidence to accepting one’s time and responsibilities, and later grounds it in an intuition shared with the divine rather than mere personal preference.
Topics
Related quotes
- Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.
- Dig within. Within is the wellspring of good; and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig. (paraphrase) Marcus Aurelius
- You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss
- Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (misattributed) Mark Twain
- Music is the only religion that really delivers the goods. Frank Zappa
Sources
Cite it
Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
Comments