100 Best Misunderstood Quotes When No One Understands
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Not being properly and sympathetically heard can be distressing and frustrating.
Being misunderstood and misconstrued can make one feel rejected and ignored. It is a tough burden to bear.
Misunderstandings in a relationship can cause arguments and resentment. Improper or lack of communication is one of the main reasons for it.
It can truly feel isolating to know you are not being perceived the way you intended to and having your words used against you. One of the best ways to resolve or help the other person understand is by having an open conversation in a language they recognize.
These quotes include quotes like 'you misunderstood me' quotes, and 'I am misunderstood' quotes. For more related content take a look at clear mind quotes and trust the process quotes.
Misunderstood Quotes And Sayings
These great quotes and sayings about the aspect of being misunderstood are very relatable.
1. “To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The greater the disturbance, the greater the possibility of misunderstanding.”
— Anatole Broyard.
2. “No adolescent ever wants to be understood, which is why they complain about being misunderstood all the time.”
— Stephen Fry.
3. “I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I said.”
— Alan Greenspan.
4. “A writer who is in a hurry to be understood today or tomorrow runs the danger of being misunderstood the day after tomorrow.”
— Johann Georg Hamann.
5. “We have misunderstood our confusion when we think there is an answer to it. The confusion is not a result of questions that are too hard, but rather a questioner who is disintegrating.”
— Steven Harrison.
6. “Fear is a friend who's misunderstood
But I know the heart of life is good.”
— John Mayer, 'The Heart Of Life'.
7. “The greatest tragedy that can befall a poet is to be praised by being misunderstood.”
— Pattiann Rogers.
8. “People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored - the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.”
— Austin Kleon.
9. “I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you're going to innovate.”
—Jeff Bezos.
10. “What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears?”
— Søren Kierkegaard.
11. “Words are the source of misunderstandings.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, ‘The Little Prince’.
12. “To pray without expectation is to misunderstand the whole concept of prayer and relationship with God.”
— Aiden Wilson Tozer.
13. “Mercy did not exist in the primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such misunderstandings made for death.”
— Jack London, ‘The Call Of The Wild’.
14. “A false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.”
15. “One age misunderstands another; and a petty age misunderstands all the others in its own nasty way.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein, ‘Culture And Value’.
16. “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
― George Bernard Shaw.
17. “We’re all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding.”
— Rudyard Kipling.
18. “With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.”
— G.K. Chesterton.
Quotes About Misunderstandings
Misunderstanding quotes and how to deal with them can be truly inspirational, so keep reading!
19. “If a man cannot understand the beauty of life, it is probably because life never understood the beauty in him.”
— Criss Jami, ‘Killosophy’.
20. “Understanding, as we understand it, is misunderstanding.”
— Elias Canetti.
21. “Nothing hurts a good soul and the kind heart more than to live amongst people who can't understand it.”
— Ali lbn Abi Talib.
22. “Clear up any misunderstanding before it gets to that point.”
— Joel Miller.
23. “I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.”
— Clarence Darrow.
24. “An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte.
25. “No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.”
— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.
26. “Study leads to the retention of concepts, and so the Way is entirely misunderstood.”
— Huangbo Xiyun.
27. “I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
28. “The world only goes round by misunderstanding.”
— Charles Baudelaire.
29. “We are infected by our own misunderstanding of how our own minds work.”
— Kevin Kelly.
30. “Understanding is but the sum of misunderstandings.”
— Haruki Murakami, ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’.
31. “Misunderstanding must be nakedly exposed before true understanding can begin to flourish.”
— Philip Yancey.
32. “The same passions in man and woman nonetheless differ in tempo; hence man and woman do not cease misunderstanding one another.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche.
33. “Misunderstanding of probability may be the greatest of all impediments to scientific literacy.”
— Stephen Jay Gould.
34. “It’s dreadful what little things lead people to misunderstand each other.”
— L. M. Montgomery.
35. “Much of aging comes from a misunderstanding of the effect of comfort.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
36. “Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than malice and wickedness.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
37. “Change comes with both fear and some pain. Those two ingredients create mistrust, misunderstanding and misinformation.”
— David Mixner.
38. “Misunderstanding leads to more misunderstanding, as success leads to more success.”
― Girdhar Joshi, ‘Some Mistakes Have No Pardon’.
39. “Let us not harm ourselves just because you don’t understand me and I don’t understand you! Let us miss misunderstanding, and we shall surely see that understanding!”
― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah.
Quotes About Being Judged And Misunderstood
People can be judgmental as we know. With that said, here are some of the best quotes on being judged and misunderstood.
40. “Rather than critique people, try admiring God’s creative handiwork.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich.
41. “Not judging people is the fastest way to peace.”
― Jonathan Jackson.
42. “When we generalize and judge people quickly without taking ample time, we've chosen a shortcut. It's superficial of us, and a lack of wisdom.”
― Assegid Habtewold.
43. “Never judge a book by its cover. At first glance, even Jesus appeared unimpressive.”
― Andrena Sawyer.
44. “In the matters of your mistake you defend it like a lawyer, in the matters of other's mistake you act like a judge.”
― Amit Kalantri, ‘Wealth Of Words’.
45. “Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson.
46. “When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.”
― Wayne Dyer.
47. “We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.”
― Erica Jong.
48. “People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.”
― Albert Camus.
49. “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky.
50. “We are all different. Don’t judge, understand instead.”
— Roy T. Bennett, ‘The Light In The Heart’.
51. “The older I get, the more I would rather sit alone, in silence, than with people who judge the way I live.”
― Kristen Butler.
52. “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
— Voltaire.
Quotes About Being Misunderstood
Here are some great quotes on being misunderstood and not being able to put across your point.
53. “When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them.”
— Criss Jami, ‘Killosophy’.
54. “People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand my complaint about them not understanding me.”
— Søren Kierkegaard, ‘The Journals Of Kierkegaard’.
55. “Nowadays, saying what you really think can be a serious error since one risks being misunderstood.”
― Oscar Wilde.
56. “I think I get misinterpreted and misunderstood a lot.”
― Macy Gray.
57. “You have to put up with the risk of being misunderstood if you are going to try to communicate.”
― Edie Sedgwick.
58. “Being misunderstood by someone is vexation. Being misunderstood by everyone is tragedy.”
― Liu Shahe.
59. “The writer who neglects punctuation, or mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood for the want of merely a comma.”
― Edgar Allan Poe.
60. “I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.”
― Clarence Darrow.
61. “I am the most misunderstood and misrepresented of men. Misrepresented because misunderstood.”
― Isaac Parker.
62. “Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than being misunderstood.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche.
63. “Most of the things I do are misunderstood. Hey, after all, being misunderstood is the fate of all true geniuses, is it not?”
― Howard Stern.
64. “The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.”
― Jean Cocteau.
65. “The fear of being misunderstood is the beginning of mediocrity.”
― Ogwo David Emenike.
66. “Looking but not seeing is the hearing but not understanding of the eye.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana.
67. “It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’.
Famous Quotes About Misunderstanding
In this list you will find some of the most famous quotes by famous personalities like Oscar Wilde and Ralph Waldo Emerson's quotes “To be great is to be misunderstood”.
68. “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
69. “Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood.”
— William Howard Taft
70. “I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood.”
— Oscar Wilde.
71. “We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
— Immanuel Kant.
72. “Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they possess, not because of the absence of faults.”
— John F. Kennedy.
73. “He who is only just is cruel; who Upon the earth would live were all judged justly?”
— Lord Byron.
74. “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
75. “I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.”
— Dalai Lama.
76. “To be great is to be misunderstood.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson.
77. “Never waste your time trying to explain who you are to people who are committed to misunderstanding you.”
— Dream Hampton.
Feeling Misunderstood Quotes
Here are some of the best quotes about good intentions misunderstood by people.
78. “It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.”
― Karl Popper.
79. “We feel understood by people who like us; misunderstood by people who don’t — and those feelings are probably realistic.”
— Hugh Prather.
80. “I have been misunderstood perhaps more than anyone else ever, but it has not affected me, for the simple reason that there is no desire to be understood.”
— Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
81. “The fact that I am misunderstood has always given me an added impetus to work on communication to bridge the gap.”
— Yoko Ono.
82. “He is fond of being misunderstood. It gives him a post of vantage.”
— Oscar Wilde.
83. “Do not fear being misunderstood and never waste a minute thinking about your enemies.”
— Elbert Hubbard.
84. “I have nothing to explain. As for being misunderstood, I have grown accustomed to that.”
— Fan Bingbing.
85. “I live in terror of not being misunderstood.”
— Oscar Wilde.
86. “Being misunderstood by people whose opinions you value is absolutely the most painful.”
― Gloria Steinem.
Misunderstood Love Quotes
Keep reading these great misunderstanding quotes about love and life.
87. “Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.”
― Oswald Chambers.
88. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
— Mother Teresa.
89. “Somewhere between love and hate lies confusion, misunderstanding and desperate hope.”
— Shannon L. Alder.
90. “The more a man judges, the less he loves.”
― Honor de Balzac.
91. “Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.”
― Diane Arbus.
92. “Love is a labyrinth of misunderstandings whose way out doesn’t exist.”
― Jacques-Alain Mille.
93. “Were it not for some basic misunderstanding no two people would ever fall in love.”
― Marty Rubin.
94. “At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.”
― John of the Cross.
95. “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”
― Albert Schweitzer.
Misunderstood Relationship Quotes
These quotes are about the misunderstandings in relationships that lead to issues.
96. “As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it.”
— William James.
97. “Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.”
— Miguel Ruiz.
98. “The proper basis for marriage is mutual misunderstanding.”
— Oscar Wilde.
99. “Behind every happy couple lies two people who have fought hard to overcome all obstacles and interferences to be that way. Why? Because it’s what they wanted.”
— Kim George.
100. “I know that sounds mean to say, but I don't mean it.”
― J.D. Salinger, ‘The Catcher In The Rye’.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for misunderstood quotes then why not take a look at [you are special quotes], and you are enough quotes.
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Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English
Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English
With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature.
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