Self-Reliance : by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

This is a very long but fine essay on self-reliance. Find the time to go through it, and you will not be disappointed.

A snippet from the same:

It is only as a man puts off all foreign support, and stands alone, that I see him to be strong and to prevail ...
He who knows that power is inborn, that he is weak because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere, and so perceiving, throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought, instantly rights himself, stands in the erect position, commands his limbs, works miracles; just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man who stands on his head.