Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended.”
- Source
- The American Scholar
- Date
- 1837
Meaning of “In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended.”
Emerson treats self-trust as a foundational intellectual virtue for the scholar: independent thought requires enough confidence to examine appearances and speak from judgment rather than merely repeat authority.
Where does it come from?
The American Scholar, 1837 address, Project Gutenberg #16643. Emerson says the scholar’s duties may be comprised in self-trust; the claim belongs to transcendentalist intellectual and civic rhetoric, not a guarantee that private conviction is always correct.
