Mr. Robbins and other titans in the field may preach self-reliance, but the self-help industry thrives on repeat business.

But, he told me, when he first heard Ronald Reagan, he equated Reagan's message with his mother's - both preached self-reliance.

In an interview in his bare office, Mr. Taamari preached self-reliance.

Moreover, Mr. Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association, which preached black pride and self-reliance, attracted a vast following but was never universally embraced.

Elijah Muhammad also preached black self-reliance, black separatism, cooperative economics, strict moral and physical discipline, and opposition to black-white miscegenation.

When drunk, he preached self-reliance.

Speaking at a junior high school in the bleak streets of Brownsville recently, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani gave a conservative twist to the words of John F. Kennedy to preach self-reliance to the students.

In Melaka and throughout the peninsula, Islam thrived as a strong, male-dominated religion of individuality, offering dynamic leadership and preaching brotherhood and self-reliance - all qualities ideally suited to the coastal trade.

While talking up Thailand to investors abroad, he preached economic self-reliance at home, and imposed restrictions on the hiring of foreigners or use of foreign consultants.