Trust thyself: the sentence has become so familiar that we no longer hear it. Emerson's essay is a manifesto for American individualism, urging readers to ignore tradition, consistency, and the expectations of others. The prose moves in aphorisms: a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Emerson delivered these ideas first as lectures in New England; the essay distills them into concentrated form. The influence on Thoreau, Whitman, Nietzsche, and the American self-image has been immense. Read it and you will understand why Americans believe they can invent themselves.