Conformity and Fear in Self-Reliance The quote that most provoked thought and emotion in me came from the essay “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson . “To be great is to be misunderstood” was used by Emerson to explain the stunted conception of ideas and thoughts of his generation. Original and new ideas were looked down upon by conservatives who believed that the best method of learning was repetition and memorization of time-tested classics written by previous generations. The continued timelessness of his quote is still in effect 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 results of individualism have spread throughout the world. Important leaders, thinkers, and philosophers with radical ideas in virgin areas of research were quickly making significant discoveries. Yet progress was slowed by short-sighted men who failed to see the greatness. Aberham Lincoln was a revolutionary in his time with his views on slavery and pardoning the South. Yet his death was the result of one man's refusal to accept what was once a proud and rich land reduced to tatters, left in ruins because of his refusal to accept civil reform. Herman Melville's work in Moby Dick was considered a classic, but Melville died as a character with lost prestige, poor and not accepted. When he was buried in 1891, he was remembered only as the author of entertaining novels about the South Seas. It was not until the 1920s that his place among America's greatest writers was assured. His works are today great masterpieces of emotion which were poorly understood during his lifetime. Another important example is democracy. In medieval times, monarchies and kingdoms ruled the country. Today, the monarch is only a figurehead of the power of democracy. At the birth of the democratic rise of the United States of America, the colonists were seen as fools and upstart dreamers who believed that the impossible was possible. English royalists were dismayed by the outrage of the colonies who wanted to secede from England and form their own country. Today, the United States is the only world power, a great