To be great is to be misunderstood.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays: First Series, Self-Reliance (1841)
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When and why it was written
- When
- From Self-Reliance, 1841.
- Why
- Emerson is defending inconsistency and independence of mind against the fear of being misread.
What it means
Emerson lists Pythagoras, Socrates and Galileo, all misunderstood. Original thought rarely looks right to everyone at first.
It is permission to hold a view others do not yet share.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Essays: First Series, 1841
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