Self-Reliance

This short essay by the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) is among the works that have most influenced former U. S. President Barack Obama, who has repeatedly recommended its reading to young people and entrepreneurs. Self-Reliance (1841) is also one of the most significant essays of its author, from a philosophical and humanistic point of view. It is an essay in which Emerson defends the aspirations for cultural emancipation of his country with respect to the Old Continent and at the same time glimpses the potential characteristics of the new nation.