“Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self Reliance"

At the MTV VMA's 2013, Miley Cyrus shocked the world with her near naked performance with Robin Thicke. Once Miley started to grow up more and be on her own, she decided to stop caring about what everyone thought of her and just did whatever she pleases. Her hair, outfits, dance style, and music shows how she can be unique and abnormal. She quickly shed out of her teen Disney stage and into a totally new look that surprised everyone. In her song "We can't stop", Miley says "it's our party we can do what we want to", this prevails her attitude towards life on how she does what she wants. Miley is considered a nonconformist because she constantly shows failure towards a conforming rule or practice.

“Live your life. Do your work. Then take your hat.”

- Henry David Thoreau, "Conscience"

An example of self reliance is Beyoncé. She believes in working hard for herself instead of relying on other people. In 2011 she released her hit "Run the World" which she encouraged women all around the world to be self reliant as well. "How we're smart enough to make these millions, Strong enough to bear the children, Then get back to business", this line in her song represents how women can have children and then go right back to running the world again.

“In the woods we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life - no disgrace, no calamity…”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature"

In 2010 Alicia Silverstone is a prime example of someone who shows the importance of nature when she became vegan since she was fighting asthma she decided that she needed to be on a healthier diet and lifestyle. Becoming a vegan, this made Alicia get into gardening and just becoming more involved with nature. Since she was only eating things that come from nature she realized how important nature is in her daily life, noticing how she cannot live without it.

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self Reliance"

In 2011, an iconic figure died, Steve Jobs influenced many electronically companies all over the world. Steve Jobs is one who favors intuition over reason because he became successful just by believing in himself and only moving forward in life no matter what and wanting to prove wrong all of those people who doubted him. Jobs remained self motivated and wanted to revolutionize the technological world.

“That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

-Henry David Thoreau, "Journals 1856"

Anne Hathaway believes in simplicity, she believes that ones happiness is more important than their expectations. In 2013 Anne says “There’s no magic bullet; there’s no pill that you take that makes everything great and makes you happy all the time. I’m letting go of those expectations, and that’s opening me up to moments of transcendent bliss”, here she is saying that she is letting go of everything and letting nature take the lead in her life.