Austin Kleon — Was Ralph Waldo Emerson Our First Motivational...

“Trust yourself: every heart vibrates to that iron string”; “Insist on yourself; never imitate”; “Whosoever would be a man must be a nonconformist.” Such proclamations, delivered from the lectern rather than the pulpit, are the very stuff of which uplift (and needlepoint wall hangings) are made. Small wonder that Emerson always attracted a large following. His first series of essays was never out of print or demand, and he made the rounds of the lecture circuit surrounded by the frenzy and adulation now lavished on rock stars. In an age sans radio, sans TV, sans computer-generated extravaganzas, oratory occupied the center stage, and Emerson’s lectures shot out the lights. He helped audiences to feel, at least for an evening, that there was a Shakespeare buried deep inside each of them—and that if they would only fully recognize their potential, greatness was practically assured.