“To be great is to be misunderstood.”

The end of the same paragraph in 📰 Self-Reliance, after his list of the misunderstood: Pythagoras, Socrates, Jesus, Luther, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton.

Kept with an eyebrow raised. It is true in one direction only. Most people who are misunderstood have simply written an unclear document. More in 📖 Emerson on self-trust.