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• self-reliance
  self-reliance

  noun

  reliance on oneself or one's own powers, resources, etc.
• “Self-Reliance”
  “Self-Reliance”

  (1841) An essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that advises the reader to “Trust thyself” and argues that “whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” It is the source of several well-known epigrams, such as “To be great is to be misunderstood” and “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

self-reliance

American  

[self-ri-lahy-uhns, self-] / ˈsɛlf rɪˈlaɪ əns, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

1. reliance on oneself or one's own powers, resources, etc.

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self-reliance British  

noun

1. reliance on one's own abilities, decisions, etc

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“Self-Reliance” Cultural  

1. (1841) An essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that advises the reader to “Trust thyself” and argues that “whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” It is the source of several well-known epigrams, such as “To be great is to be misunderstood” and “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

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Other Word Forms

• self-reliant
  adjective
• self-reliantly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of self-reliance

First recorded in 1825–35

Explanation

Self-reliance is a quality of depending on yourself for things instead of relying on others. You might decide to prove your self-reliance by hiking the Appalachian Train on your own. When people have self-reliance, they are independent and autonomous — in other words, they take care of themselves. Some of us develop self-reliance as children, when we start to prepare food for ourselves, take the bus alone, or in other ways exert our independence. The philosopher John Stuart Mill is credited with the first use of self-reliance, in an 1883 letter in which he described it as one important quality of "a free man."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

self-reliance “Self-Reliance”

But her perspective is internet-era cosmopolitan; young but preternaturally wise about self-reliance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

But what came out of that hardship—the self-reliance, the drive, the refusal to accept helplessness—wasn’t incidental to who they were.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

These stocks benefit from the country’s push for self-reliance.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

But we have always wanted to lead them to financial self-sufficiency and self-reliance, for them to work for a living, and for them to learn frugal habits.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026

I had my own home, humble though it was, and I was developing the confidence and self-reliance necessary to stand on my own two feet.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

“Self-Reliance” is recast in “If,” the poem Kipling was to say escaped its bindings “and for a while ran about the world.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2019

Frank cites him and quotes him frequently, and he has a copy of “Self-Reliance” in the backseat of his car during his road trip with his surly son, Paul, in “Independence Day.”

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 25, 2014

The derision leads to an argument, in which Paul rips a page out of “Self-Reliance” and taunts Frank: “I just took a page from your book.”

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 25, 2014

She covers food for Bookforum and is currently at work on a book about the uses of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” in the 21st century, to be published in 2013.

From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2012

I discovered Emerson’s soporific qualities the hard way, by falling asleep with my face in the book, drooling all over an essay called “Self-Reliance” and having the vending-machine dream for the sixth time that week.

From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Related Words

• autonomy
• self-determination
• self-government
• self-rule
• self-sufficiency
• sovereignty