understood

“Is it so bad, then, 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. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

not quite humiliated

... but embarrassed.

Winslow Homer failed to sell. He was thought of as the brooding, solitude, reclusive artist. 

good to great

"Greatness is not a function of larger than life leaders, exorbitant executive compensation, killer business strategies, advanced technologies, mergers and acquisitions, or big change initiatives. Over the long run, these are all collective crutches an organization leans on to prop itself up - but none of these enable a company to become great. So what makes a company great? Disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined actions over an extended period. Having 'the right people on the bus.' Having the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, in thought and in action, is the recipe for greatness."
- Attributed to Jim Collins