American Literature / Unit 7 AML 0608 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"A Foolish Consistency"
Captions available
The idea
Emerson's line that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds is usually quoted with the first word dropped, which turns a defence of changing one's mind into a licence for incoherence. The adjective is the argument: he defends revision, not caprice.
In practice
The dropped word carries the meaning.
Where people slip
Foolish is the word people leave out.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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