abound in one's own sense

present singular third person abounds in one's own sense · participle present abounding in one's own sense · participle past abounded in one's own sense · past abounded in one's own sense

1. datedidiomaticTo follow one’s own inclinations and opinions.

   But for that very reason that the conventional requires softness or impressionability to the dear little urbanities in you, if you abound in your own sense […] they are weak, & soon at your mercy.

   1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “[journal entry]”, in The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, volume 14, published 1978, →ISBN, page 45

   2 more examples

   The clearly defined purpose of the order, and the full and all but dryly legalistic expressions of its constitutions left no scope for interpreters abounding in their own sense and made schism impossible.

   1948, David Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, volume 1, page 161

   Having escaped what he described as the “Ph.D. death rattle,” Copey abounded in his own sense at Harvard, where “Every man in his humour” was the motto for professors who were actors often and characters all the time.

   a. 1963, Van Wyck Brooks, An Autobiography, published 1965, page 123