Self-Reliance

Ralph Waldo argues that in order to be a success in your own eyes one must first fallow your own idea of truth.  In return, this truth can not be shaped or molded in any way by the influences or idea of others.  Waldo states, "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius."  You must follow your own truth and not mold it of off  opinions or truth of others before you, and to do this in a sense you have to reject the ideas of the people around you.  

In part, I agree with the idea that to be successful you must follow your own truth and not let others shape who you are.  But, I don't think that it is necessary to discredit other peoples found truths.  You don't necessarily have to take the truths of others as your own, but you can take them and shape them to your beliefs.  It is almost impossible to come up with your own thoughts on every matter of life, and pass them as your own.  As humans, we learn and grown from the already discovered truth of others.  Thus, making Waldo's idea of success very hard to accomplish.  We are not easily capably of thinking on our own without taking into consideration the opinions or ideas of others.