Misunderstood Genius Quotes

• There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him.

  Antonin Artaud

  Depression, Ideas, Delirium Tremens

  "Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society". Essay by Antonin Artaud, 1947.

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  Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Inspirational, Life, Beautiful

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “101 Facts of life”, p.2, Publishdrive

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• And what is an authentic madman? It is a man who preferred to become mad, in the socially accepted sense of the word, rather than forfeit a certain superior idea of human honor. So society has strangled in its asylums all those it wanted to get rid of or protect itself from, because they refused to become its accomplices in certain great nastinesses. For a madman is also a man whom society did not want to hear and whom it wanted to prevent from uttering certain intolerable truths.

  Antonin Artaud

  Men, Ideas, Mad

  Antonin Artaud (1988). “Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings”, p.485, Univ of California Press

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• I'm a misunderstood genius." "What's misunderstood?" "Nobody thinks I'm a genius.

  Bill Watterson

  Thinking, Misunderstood, Genius

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• Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

  W. H. Murray

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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• There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

  Oscar Levant

  Inspirational, Funny, Depression

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Even if there are instances in which it can be mistook by onlookers, never fool yourself into using misunderstood genius as an excuse to be a fool.

  Criss Jami

  Misunderstood, Genius, Fool

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.74, Criss Jami

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• Calvin: I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius. Hobbes: What's misunderstood about you? Calvin: Nobody thinks I'm a genius. Corfu? It's just a poor man's Pensacola.

  John Ratzenberger

  Humor, Men, Thinking

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• The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred...unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Moving, Commitment, Misunderstood

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• So society has strangled in its asylums all those it wanted to get rid of or protect itself from, because they refused to become its accomplices in certain great nastinesses.

  Antonin Artaud

  Nastiness, Asylums, Madness

  "Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society". Essay by Antonin Artaud, 1947.

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• A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Silly, Science, Political

  Essays "Self-Reliance" (1841)

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• All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

  W. H. Murray

  Commitment, Misunderstood, Genius

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• So long as we have failed to eliminate any of the causes of human despair, we do not have the right to try to eliminate those means by which man tries to cleanse himself of despair.

  Antonin Artaud

  Mean, Men, Long

  Antonin Artaud, Susan Sontag (1976). “Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings”, p.99, Univ of California Press

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• [defines a madman as] a man who preferred to become mad,in the socially accepted sense of the word, rather than forfeit a certain superior idea of human honor.

  Antonin Artaud

  Men, Ideas, Mad

  Antonin Artaud, Susan Sontag (1976). “Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings”, p.485, Univ of California Press

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• Hell is of this world and there are men who are unhappy escapees from hell, escapees destined ETERNALLY to reenact their escape.

  Antonin Artaud

  Men, Unhappy, World

  Antonin Artaud, Susan Sontag (1976). “Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings”, p.100, Univ of California Press

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• There's a fine line between genius and insanity, as we all know.

  Mackenzie Phillips

  Insanity, Genius, Lines

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• When we speak the word 'life,' it must be understood we are not referring to life as we know it from its surface of fact, but to that fragile, fluctuating center which forms never reach.

  Antonin Artaud

  Life, Understanding, Facts

  Antonin Artaud (1958). “The Theater and Its Double”, p.13, Grove Press

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• I'm a misunderstood genius.

  Bill Watterson

  Misunderstood, Genius

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• I feel Aleister Crowley is a misunderstood genius of the 20th century. Because his whole thing was liberation of the person, of the entity, and that restrictions would foul you up, lead to frustration which leads to violence, crime, mental breakdown, depending on what sort of makeup you have underneath. The further this age we're in now gets into technology and alienation, a lot of the points he's made seem to manifest themselves all down the line.

  Jimmy Page

  Frustration, Makeup, Technology

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• Many jazz musicians affect a misunderstood-genius air when they play, which alienates the audience and breaks down the communications of the music. A musician's responsibility is to get as much of his art across as possible. Musicians used to be kept when only the rich could afford art, but now practically everyone can afford radios, stereo equipment, concert tickets, etc. A musician must learn to communicate to survive.

  Gabor Szabo

  Music, Art, Communication

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