“Is it so bad 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.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson
When our feelings are hurt, or we feel alone and misunderstood, it helps to remember that we’re in good company. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers, artists and teachers have not only been rejected but positively maligned by the societies they lived in. What’s one argument or some heartless gossip compared to being excommunicated or put to death for your beliefs, for just being who you are? When you’re feeling down about your life, ponder how the most respected people throughout history must have felt about life at times – it will certainly put your own sorrows in perspective.