Conformity and Fear in Self-Reliance The quote that most provoked thoughts and emotions within me comes from the essay "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “To be great is to be misunderstood” was used by Emerson to explain the retarded growth of his generation's conception of ideas and thoughts. Original and new ideas were scorned by conservatives who believed that the best method of learning was repetition and memorization of proven classics written by previous generations. The continued timelessness of his quote is still in place today as the scientific community has evolved to accept unusual theories, but encounters difficulties when relating to the public, new and extreme ideas that disprove the system. Throughout history, the achievements of individualism have spread throughout the world. Prominent leaders, thinkers, and philosophers with radical ideas in virgin areas of research were rapidly making significant discoveries. Yet progress was slowed by short-sighted men who failed to see the greatness. Aberham Lincoln was a revolutionary in his day with his ideas about slavery and Southern forgiveness. Yet his death was the result of one man's refusal to accept what was once a proud and rich land, torn to tatters, left in ruins due to its inability to accept civil reform. Herman Melville's work in Moby Dick was considered a classic, yet Melville died a figure with lost prestige, poor and unaccepted. When he was buried in 1891, he was remembered only as the author of entertaining South Sea novels. It was not until the 1920s that his place among America's foremost writers was secured. His works are today great masterpieces of emotions that were misunderstood while he was still alive. Another important example is democracy. In the Middle Ages, monarchies and kingdoms ruled the country. Today the monarch is simply a figurehead behind the power of democracy. At the beginning of the democratic rise of the United States of America, the colonists were considered fools and dreamers convinced of the impossible. English royalists were horrified by the colonies' outrage at seceding from England and forming their own country. Nowadays, the United States is the only world power, a great one