Quotable Notables to Self: On Being Misunderstood

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

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In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still."

Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

"Easily mistaken, it is not about a love for adversity, it is about knowing a strength and a faith so great that adversity, in all its adverse manifestations, hardly even exists."

Criss Jami

"True rebels hate their own rebellion. They know by experience that it is not a cool and glamorous lifestyle; it takes a courageous fool to say things that have not been said and to do things that have not been done."

Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

I have come to believe over and over again that what

is most important to me must be spoken,

made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having

it bruised or misunderstood.

- Audre Lorde

It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness

of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.

- Albert Einstein

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation

can be trusted to act humanely

or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

- Bertrand Russell

Having a personal opinion is great.

Believing that one's personal opinion is absolute truth

leads to most of the world's troubles.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Mostly, it is human to dislike surprises -

often with great intensity.

Be open to new ways;

sometimes newness just knocks on our door;

welcome it.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We can do no great things,

only small things with great love.

- Mother Teresa

Regrets and resentments cause great suffering but fix nothing.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The willow which bends to the tempest,

often escapes better than the oak which resists it;

and so in great calamities,

it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits

recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner

than those of a loftier character.

- Albert Schweitzer

Living in fear of anything is a terrible waste

of what could be a great life.

If you live in fear of losing your job,

either you fear the embarrassment of being jobless,

or you fear the loss of material goods -

house, car, and such.

If you live in fear of losing your stuff and money,

it is clear that they own you.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie