Interpretation of "Self Reliance"

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. What on Earth does this even mean? Is it an insult? What exactly is a Hobgoblin? Well folks in this post I'm going to give you my interpretation of a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self Reliance".


Let's start off by getting a look the quote.


       "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Out upon your guarded lips! Sew them up with packthread, do. Else if you would be a man speak what you think today in words as hard as cannon balls, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow think in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today."




We'll begin by returning to one of my earlier questions, what exactly is a Hobgoblin? A hobgoblin can be described as something that causes fear or worry. My interpretation is that Emerson in his first sentence is stating that; a false consistency is feared by regular people, but is liked, maybe even loved by politicians, Kings and Queens, and people of greater intellectual ability then the average person. I feel as though giving people a false consistency would fair well for politicians, Kings and Queens. But as a regular person I know that when I begin to feel as though things are going to good, I begin to worry about what is going to happen next. Thus making false consistency feared by normal people, and loved by people of power. Now we'll move onto the second sentence. I believe that this sentence is stating that when things are going good, great people, such as heroes, have absolutely nothing to do. The third sentence reiterates this by stating, that the "hero" may as well begin to worry about his shadow on the wall. In my opinion, the fourth sentence is where the quote starts to take a turn away from what it was previously stating. In no way do I believe that it backtracks, but it just turns down a different avenue in my opinion. The fourth sentence states, "Out upon your guarded lips!" I interpret Emerson to be saying, stop guarding your lips and tongue. Speak your mind, do not worry about what others think about the words that you are saying. The fifth sentence continues on in this statement, by my interpretation saying. If you cannot speak your mind, then what good are your lips to you? If you're not going to use them, then you may as well sew them shut! In the sixth sentence he states, say what you think today, if you have an opinion on something, state it. Let your peers be aware of your stance or your beliefs. And, he also in this sentence says, that when tomorrow comes, be sure to again speak your mind fully, EVEN if it contradicts every single thing that you said the day before.






In my own experiences, I find Emerson's advice to be very beneficial and true. Although I cannot think of an experience off of the top of my head that I can apply it to, I do feel as though I should speak my mind and let people know what it is that I'm thinking, I have the right of freedom of speech, and I should use it to it's full extent. I shouldn't be afraid of what people think about me because of what it is that I have to say, being afraid of what people think of me is something that I can admit I do struggle with. And maybe reading and interpreting this quote can help me along the road to stop worrying about what people think about me because of what I have to say. Also, as a regular person in today's society I do tend to feel that when things are going good for me, that I am waiting for what's going to go wrong. As Emerson would say, I have a hobgoblin of foolish consistency, because even though things are going good for me now, I feel as though something is going to go wrong in the future.