Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American writer who believed in living as a non-conformist. His writings were admired greatly by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who considered himself a disciple of Emerson. For both Thoreau and Emerson, non-conformism embodies the necessity for living an authentic and unique life.
What is a non-conformist? A non-conformist is one who chooses “to live deliberately as nature” (Thoreau line 106). “Whoso to be a man, must be a non-conformist” (from Self-Reliance Emerson). Both Emerson and Thoreau felt that being an individual was more important than going along with society as the status quo. The questions other people ask “seems to me not to be the most important question” (Thoreau line 158-159). When one is taught to think for himself and rely only on himself, he becomes the most that he can be. How easy it is to be one of society - “How deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!” (Thoreau line 221). “ “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (Emerson paragraph 3).…show more content… “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when i came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary” (lines 30-35). Thoreau did not care for the rhythm of the life that every man lives. He felt it important to be in nature and live his life based on his own feelings and time. “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?” (line 65). It did not matter to him how others lived their lives, though he would be the last to judge others. How he lived was important to him, and that was