End of Emerson's speech

In today's class we went on reading The American Scholar. In his last paragraph of his speech, Emerson refers to the reason of his speech- to make american culture more independent from European culture. With sentences like "He must be an university of knowledges", he tells the Scholar to be interested and find out more things so that his kowledge becomes broader.What I do not really understand is what he means by saying "The world is nothing, the man is all". Why should the world be less important than the man?

Responsibilities of the Scholar

In today's class we talked about which of the three influences to the scholar is the most, and which is the least important one. According to Emerson, we decided that nature is the most important one as he described it as "The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature." As we went on reading the speech we found a very important statement: "Character is higher than intellect. Thinking is the function. Living is the functionary." By saying this he wantys to tell his audience, that it's not only important how "smart" someone is but how his character is like. (how he acts withy people etc.) He said this statement even though he belonged to one of the greatest thinkers of his time.
Emersson said in his speech that the American Scholar should never forget that he is a prior Mankind, but he also mentioned he should follow his own mind. I think by saying the American Scholar should never forget that he is a prior Mankind he wants him to broaden his understanding of the world from his own eyes (that is what he means by saying "Follow your own mind”)