ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Etymology. Quotation from Self-Reliance, an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published 1841.

Detailed explanation-2: -Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” His point was that only small-minded men refused to rethink their prior beliefs. Or, put another way, he thought that today’s intuition could trump yesterday’s conclusions.

Detailed explanation-3: -A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. ” It is often even misquoted as simply “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” (or even more sloppy approximations like “conformity is a bugbear of small-minded people", etc.).

Detailed explanation-4: -A foolish consistency is one that serves no benefit for the end user. Making things look and work the same is pointless if the user can no longer accomplish their tasks. Rank making things useful above making them consistent. An example is interfaces for video games.

Detailed explanation-5: -What is a foolish consistency? How does it get in the way of genius? Petty people get hung up on doing things the way they always have. When you do something the same way every time you never think about “could there be a better way’.