Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays) by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays), II. Self-Reliance (Project Gutenberg #2944)
Emerson urges the reader to speak today's conviction even if it contradicts yesterday's, rather than guard a reputation for consistency.
Citation: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays), II. Self-Reliance (Project Gutenberg #2944). (id emerson-essays-q4)
Portrait: Ralph Waldo Emerson by Josiah Johnson Hawes 1857, Josiah Johnson Hawes, Public domain.
