“I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and
names, to large societies and dead institutions.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson believes in the importance of individuality but recognizes how quickly and easily we tend to be more apt to associate ourselves with
a title or a label. He sees people as easily surrendering their own identity only to be defined by a larger group or perhaps more accepted
label. Emerson is ashamed to see how people simply associate themselves with an outside group rather than find comfort in their own
individual existence.