I Underestimated Quotes & Sayings

And it had worked; he had looked like a fool when he attempted to call out the general. What I and the general had underestimated were the number of other assembly members who would willingly continue to follow a fool. — John Scalzi

My goal is to sweep the reader away from his world and bring him along for the adventure. Learning something new shouldn't feel like work, nor should today's younger reader be underestimated. If done correctly, there is no need to "dumb down" the plot or simplify words. When someone tells me he thought The Serpent's Ring was easy to read, I know I succeeded in my storytelling. — H.B. Bolton

My father would take you wherever you wanted to go," he told her softly. "I was pretty sure I could talk you into staying, but I underestimated how badly hurt I was."
"Stupid," she said tartly.
He looked up at her, and whatever he saw in her face made him smile, though his voice was serious when he answered her charge. "Yes. You throw my judgement off."
-Charles and Anna when he thought she was leaving him and Changed when he was injured — Patricia Briggs

I'd underestimated him. I assumed anyone who started out gut-punching you in an elevator couldn't have all that much else in his arsenal. For instance, I had no idea he could smile, let alone at such an inappropriate time. — Jonathan Lethem

One of the many lessons I hope I've learned is how much I underestimated people, their open-mindedness and their willingness to understand. I think, moreover, I underestimated the degree to which everyone has a story. So my advice, for whatever it's worth, is to trust readers, trust the truth and trust the power of storytelling. — Jeannette Walls

I never underestimated myself. And I never saw anything wrong with ambition. — Angela Merkel

I think President Obama has always been a little bit underestimated. Some of the things he's done with foreign policy have been unassailable. Getting us out of Iraq, killing Osama Bin Laden. — Willie Geist

After singing 'Same Love' across the nation, it's given me faith that I've underestimated the straight world. — Mary Lambert

Maybe he thought I would run then. Maybe he thought I would be done. But I had been hurt before. I think he underestimated my ability to pick myself up and keep going. Done? Far from it. — Glenn Beck

I will not have the power of nonviolence to be underestimated in order to cover my limitations or weaknesses. — Mahatma Gandhi

I shall expect your reply within a month. Surely that is time enough to ... weigh your other offers.'
She stared at him. Well. She'd underestimated Lord Prescott. Or perhaps, more accurately, she hadn't fully estimated him ...
'Thank you, Lord Prescott. It's helpful to know that your desire for me will expire by a particular date.'
'Much like the desirability of any woman. You of all people should be fully aware that a woman's bloom doesn't last forever. Nor does her ability to bear children.'
...
'Thank you for reminding me. It slipped my mind, temporarily.'
He nodded, smiling a little, acknowledging her little barb. 'Good day, Miss de Ballesteros. I am not a man without feeling, and I think I shall depart now, to recover from the decidedly ambivalent receipt of my proposal.'
She smiled a little at that.
'Good day, Lord Prescott. Perhaps I should retire, too, to preserve my bloom. — Julie Anne Long

My wife and I decided to try and kick start our kitchens to a $15 minimum wage for cooks. I've probably had to go through and raise every menu price now by 50 cents because it took away my profit. I just underestimated what it was going to cost. — Tom Douglas

Erick had underestimated the distance, both to the ground and the cliff above me, yet the texture of the cliff wall was better than I'd hoped for. Vines and plants grew dense and well rooted, and there were many rocks and missing chunks of earth. I didn't know whether I could make it to the top on one leg or not, but I thought it was a great day to try. — Jennifer A. Nielsen

I love challenges, and I believe that the challenge of quality cinema should not be underestimated as an important part of the Italian cultural offer. — Lapo Elkann

When he faced me again, he looked ashamed of himself. "I have gravely underestimated you, Darren," he said. "I will not do so again. I made a wiser choice than I realized when I chose you to serve as my assistant. I feel honoured to have you by my side. — Darren Shan

It really gets into your system. All baseball players have this internal clock around February when it starts to kick in and the juices start to flow. I think underestimated how much I was going to miss it. — David Cone

As Buckingham talked, I couldn't help but remember that there's a reason they call us Gallagher Girls. It's not just because the youngest of us are twelve. It's also because our founder was under twenty. From the very beginning we have been discounted and discredited, underestimated and undervalued. And, for the most part, we wouldn't have it any other way. — Ally Carter

But like Elle Woods, I do not like to be underestimated. — Reese Witherspoon

I mean by intellectual integrity the habit of deciding vexed questions in accordance with the evidence, or of leaving them undecided where the evidence is inconclusive. This virtue, though it is underestimated by almost all adherents of any system of dogma, is to my mind of the very greatest social importance and far more likely to benefit the world than Christianity or any other system of organized beliefs. — Bertrand Russell

I like being underestimated. — Kelly Thompson

[In response to the question "Do you think that you underestimated the insurgency's strength?"] I think so. I guess if I look back on it now, I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered. — Dick Cheney

I don't think I should be underestimated. — Lindsay Davenport

I think it is a great gift to make people laugh, and it shouldn't be underestimated. — Beeban Kidron

As she read over Eve's shoulder, Mavis let out a low whistle. "Not the Roarke! The incredibly wealthy, fabulous to look at, sexily mysterious Roarke who owns approximately twenty-eight percent of the world, and its satellites?"
All Eve felt was irritation. "He's the only one I know."
"You know him." Mavis rolled her green shadowed eyes. "Dallas, I've underestimated you unforgivably. Tell me everything. How, when, why? Did you sleep with him? Tell me you slept with him, then give me every tiny detail."
"We've had a secret, passionate affair for the last three years, during which time I bore him a son who's being raised on the far side of the moon by Buddhist monks. — J.D. Robb

I have a tough skin and enough confidence not to worry too much about being underestimated because of my last name, my relative youth, or my modeling background. It comes with the territory. — Ivanka Trump

But it became clear very quickly that I'd underestimated how much I liked him. Not him, perhaps, but the fact that I had someone on the other end of an invisible line. Someone to update and get updates from, to inform of a comic discovery, to imagine while dancing in a lonely basement, and to return to, finally, when the music stopped. — Marina Keegan

I hate that nothing can be done about the suffering of children, and that most of the world blocks out their suffering to cope with their own inability to help. The few who carry the burden, like social workers and teachers, become weary, burning out after only a few short years, forced to carry the weight that should be shared by a society. Children are vastly overlooked. Their importance underestimated by their size. — Tarryn Fisher

But she underestimated me. I played my cards, I laid in wait, I let myself be beaten and manipulated. If she keeps that promise she made to me, I'll show her the truth I've learned on her boat. I don't just raise monsters. I am one. — Emily Skrutskie

I actually think the one who is underestimated in terms of impact he's had on society is Bill Gates. The reason is that with the innovation of software, he really allowed the computer revolution to take hold. — Fabrice Grinda

I want to write, I want to sing. I want to do the same thing for others, have my music, hopefully do that for others one day, not realizing what I sort of had to climb. I had an idea a little bit, but I think that I underestimated the whole thing. — Lisa Marie Presley

If you ever put a student at this school in danger again-'
'Oh, I thought you Gallagher Girls were immune to danger.'
Despite the hundred girls the filled the foyer, no one moved or gasped or tried to defend our honor. We stood silently, waiting for our headmistress to say, 'Oh, we are quite used to being underestimated, Agent Townsend. In fact, we welcome it. — Ally Carter

You always underestimated me. You thought you made me harmless when you gave angelhood to me. You forgot that some angels are warriors. Where there's warriors, there's war. I will fight to the death. It's my duty. I am not afraid. — Sonya Hartnett

Looking back, I underestimated the risks. The planet and the atmosphere seem to be absorbing less carbon than we expected, and emissions are rising pretty strongly. Some of the effects are coming through more quickly than we thought then — Nicholas Stern

Finally, let me share a feeling of mine, I hope it will not be misinterpreted as pride. I am seventy four now. But still, if they give me a duty in the wooden hut where I used to stay when I was a mentor long years ago, I will gladly run there and try to fulfill that duty. Perhaps, some of our friends can see that task as a simple and trivial one. But I have not underestimated this duty and would never do so. Even today, some people may consider our having lessons with the small circle of young scholars here as a simple and trivial job. However, in my opinion, this is the most important occupation that can take human to the highest levels. — M. Fethullah Gulen

When I booked 'Orange,' I thought things were going to change a little bit, and I'd be a little more busy, but obviously I underestimated it. I don't think anyone knew that my character would be taken to so well. — Ruby Rose

The novelist is more a marathon runner than long-distance runner and the kind of courage it takes working in such isolation cannot be underestimated. I really respect my fellow writers on this front. — Tobsha Learner

Ethan's jaw dropped. Again he had underestimated her. Abruptly, he fought down a smile. "I don't know whether to kiss you or arrest you."
She smiled up at him and again Ethan thought her lips were entirely too close to his.
"You should kiss me," she said, stunning him even more. "I guarantee it will be a lot more pleasant than arresting me ... for both of us. — Kathryn Loch

I think there's a lot of power in listening to one person talking to you. And this should never be underestimated.One person sitting and talking to you and, you're pulled in, in ways that technology and art and all cannot. — Garrison Keillor

We had so much to say to each other, like we'd been quiet our whole lives until we met. It was as if I had underestimated how hungry I was for a companion, how much I needed to be understood, to be pursued, to be seen and to be reflected in someone's eyes. — Kimberly Novosel

Now, now." He smiles, "Don't you worry 'bout a thing. Damen's right where you left him. Though I must say I can't believe that you left him. I underestimated you. I had no idea. Though I can't help but wonder how Damen would feel if he knew. I bet he underestimated you too. — Alyson Noel

Frankly, my height or lack thereof never bothered me much. Although there is no doubt that it has contributed to a certain mental toughness. I've made the most of the head start one gains from being underestimated. — Michael J. Fox

Time can be misconstrued in so many ways, but its importance should never be underestimated. It is with this that I decided to not chase after time but to silently, gently, deliberately make it count. One day at a time ...
... We have to creatively use time to make a moment that matters. Every single day.
Joanne Crisner Alcayaga, Amazed — Joanne Crisner Alcayaga

I think there's been this long cycle of the big companies making a lot of money by underestimating people's intelligence and people are used to it now. So, they're so used to having their intelligence underestimated that, for most of them, it really isn't worth the bother of paying a little more attention to something that might hit them on a deeper level. But you can't really read people's minds. — J. Robbins

I think that one of the causes of these repeated failures is that our best and greatest men have greatly underestimated the size of this question (slavery). They have constantly brought forward small cures for great sores-plasters too small to cover the wound. That is one reason that all settlements have proved so temporary-so evanescent. — Abraham Lincoln

I think a lot of women are underestimated. — Brooke Burke

I can assure you the National Federation is an organization of Republican women whose power, prestige, perception, and purpose will never be underestimated by anyone. — Gerald R. Ford

Lucas recalled. "I went for the merchandising because it was one of the few things left that we hadn't discussed."60 But Lucas also shrewdly recognized that Fox and other studios had underestimated - and, in many cases, wasted - merchandising opportunities to market their films. "We — Brian Jay Jones

Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated, look I'm still around. — Pink

The benefit of appearing so young is I'm constantly underestimated — Maria V. Snyder

My mind is still reeling from a man of the cloth saying 'chicks you have banged'. I think I may have underestimated this Father. He appears to know in the ways of the youth. — Alex Dunkin

I was never offended that people underestimated me because of my appearance or that they thought I was pretty and discouraged me from fighting because they didn't want me to risk hurting my looks. — Laila Ali

I would say that by virtue of transforming politics, [Dalai Lama] is in fact easily underestimated. — Pico Iyer

I always feel over-appreciated but underestimated. — Alan Bennett

I always thought Nixon was the scary one. The one everyone was afraid of. It's possible I had underestimated Chase... big time. — Rachel Van Dyken

Back in 1995, Munger had given a talk at Harvard Business School called "The Psychology of Human Misjudgment." If you wanted to predict how people would behave, Munger said, you only had to look at their incentives. FedEx couldn't get its night shift to finish on time; they tried everything to speed it up but nothing worked - until they stopped paying night shift workers by the hour and started to pay them by the shift. Xerox created a new, better machine only to have it sell less well than the inferior older ones - until they figured out the salesmen got a bigger commission for selling the older one. "Well, you can say, 'Everybody knows that,'" said Munger. "I think I've been in the top five percent of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it. And never a year passes but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther." Munger's — Michael Lewis

I've always felt that, although Truffaut was greatly revered and admired, at the same time, in terms of film and how much he loved film, he was underestimated. — Nicolas Roeg

You don't like my dress?"
The vines of Reed's couture streched toward the tutor, the rose's petal-mouths chomping.
It isn't that, Your Imperial Viciousness. The earthlings will not understand you. Not understanding you, they will be frightened and send their petty authorities to apprehend you."
Ha!"
Of course they'll fail. That isn't the point. But you'll have to wast engery dealing with them instead of concentrating on your niece's destruction. I doubt that the way to achive your aim is to spread your strength across many fronts so that, when it's time to battle Alyss, you many not be at the peak of your powers. Your niece, I gather, shouldn't be underestimated."
Vollrath hadn't graduated from the Tutor Corps for nothing. "I don't like when sound reasoning counters my wishes," Redd hissed. — Frank Beddor

I know that small-town silence, I'd run into it before, intangible as smoke and solid as stone. We honed it on the British for centuries and it's ingrained, the instinct for a place to close up like a fist when the police come knocking. Sometimes it means nothing more than that; but it's a powerful thing, that silence, dark and tricky and lawless. It still hides bones buried somewhere in the hills, arsenals cached in pigsties. The British underestimated it, fell for the practiced half-witted looks, but I knew and Sam knew: it's dangerous. — Tana French

New York is great, but I miss L.A. - I feel like there was something exotic about L.A. that I kind of underestimated at the time. It was very unfamiliar to me. — Emily Mortimer

There have been moments in my career when I've had to be tough and I've had to step up to the plate - but usually that's because a man has underestimated me. But other than that, I wouldn't say I'm a tough person. — Tamara Mellon

I underestimated your laziness."
"It's pronounced intelligence, Kirk. — Abria Mattina

I had a friend in high school named Sally Newlyn who explained what had gone wrong with God's plan for the world. During one of her schizophrenic episodes, she told me that God had given mankind a finite number of souls. He set them free in the sky where they orbited silently until they were needed for the newly conceived. He intended for the souls to be reincarnated so that humanity would grow more generous and wise with each generation. But God had underestimated man's propensity to go forth and multiply, and so, on our planet today, millions of bodies were roaming the earth searching in the vain for a soul. — Kaylie Jones

I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated - to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. — J.K. Rowling

And what classical music does best and must always do more, is to show this kind of transformation of moods, to show a very wide psychological voyage. And I think that's something that we as classical musicians have underestimated. — Michael Tilson Thomas

An underestimated element in poetry, that reading aloud makes clear, is the pause. I mean especially the force of a pause or a couple of pauses close together, contrasted with a longer unit of grammar. — Robert Pinsky

People underestimate me, and that's fine. I prefer to go into negotiations being underestimated. — Ivanka Trump

it. I didn't expect Stacks to come for me as hard as he did and because I underestimated him, my baby mama and sister were both dead, and my son was in foster care. — Lucinda John

I think that feminists have definitely underestimated the role that women have had historically. I think I would be insecure if I were to be a man; there's so much pressure on you. — Vivienne Westwood

I prefer the smaller acting than big histrionics. It's about reacting and looks, which is often underestimated. — Viggo Mortensen

I've always been underestimated. It's happened throughout my entire career. — John Kasich

Feminism is a tremendously underestimated force, viewed in the present context primarily as a woman's concern. The understanding has not yet percolated throughout society that the advancement of women is a program vitally connected to the survival of human beings as a species. The reason for this is simply that institutions take on the character of the atoms which compose them, and what we are most menaced by in the twentieth century are dehumanized institutions. If women played a major role in policy formation and execution on the part of these institutions, I think they would have a far more benign and ecologically sensitive kind of character. So I see feminism not as a kind of war between the sexes or any of these stereotypic images, but as actually a kind of effort to shift the ratios of our emphasis that is expressed through our institutions. — Terence McKenna

I believe hip hop's characteristic beliefs as a whole are misunderstood, underappreciated and highly underestimated. — Carlos Wallace

Maybe my intuition has been warning me about something I don't quite understand but shouldn't be underestimated. ... — Nicholas Sparks

I have been underestimated for decades. I have done very well that way. — Helmut Kohl

Yes, I decided, a man can truly change. The events of the past year have taught me much about myself, and a few universal truths. I learned, for instance, that while wounds can be inflicted easily upon those we love, it's often much more difficult to heal them. Yet the process of healing those wounds provided the richest experience of my life, leading me to believe that while I've often overestimated what I could accomplish in a day, I had underestimated what I could do in a year. But most of all, I learned that it's possible for two people to fall in love all over again, even when there's been a lifetime of disappointment between them. — Nicholas Sparks

I'm just a regular guy who up until a few years ago totally underestimated what I felt I was capable of. Since then my experiences have taught me that we are all capable of the extraordinary in our lives. — Ray Zahab

It's not like I want to be friends with you now, Frankie. Don't even talk to me, I seriously can't deal with you.
I'm just writing to say I underestimated you. I significantly underestimated you. I don't actually think it is possible to overestimate you. Although you are not a nice person. — E. Lockhart

I squirmed in my hiding spot. Do something, people," I urged. Say something. The silence dragged on. I imagined my first report to Maris. "We have underestimated our enemy. They are lethal. We are in serious danger of the Hancocks boring us to death. Abort, abort, abort. — Anne Greenwood Brown

Because you don't belong with him! I tried to tell you that, but you wouldn't listen, and I thought if you understood that he'd be better off without you, you'd break up with him for his own good. So I ... exaggerated how easy it'd be for him to get over you, with Sabine there to step in. But I underestimated how incredibly stubborn you are"
"I prefer to think of it as dedication ... " I mumbled. — Rachel Vincent

I am not to be underestimated. Overestimated, maybe, but underestimated? No. — Saumya Sharman

When I went to Everest, I underestimated things. I just didn't know what altitude could do. Or the cold - I especially didn't appreciate the cold. It can be just debilitating, and things can happen so quickly. — Jon Krakauer

I think we have underestimated their Gods; they have made millions stupid, and we are even not able to get one out of that stupidity. — M.F. Moonzajer

I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it. — Charlie Munger

He was a better fighter than I was, but he wasn't faster than me. Nor was he as motivated, and I think he underestimated me. He thought he was fighting a girl with a stick when he was fighting Adam's mate, Coyote's daughter, armed with Lugh's staff. — Patricia Briggs

Globalization is a fact of life. But I believe we have underestimated its fragility. — Kofi Annan

Photographer shoots Sutton in close-up, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway behind his head. The expressway was built while Sutton was in prison. God what a monstrosity, Sutton says. I didn't think they could make Brooklyn uglier. I underestimated them. — J.R. Moehringer

Oh how I had underestimated tender kisses. — Cora Carmack

As societies continue to loosen their standards regarding what is appropriate female and male behavior, I think we are going to realize we have not only underestimated women, but also men. — Helen Fisher

Lastly, we need to know the strength of gravity on Dagobah. Here, I figure I'm stuck, because while sci-fi fans are obsessive, it's not like there's gonna be a catalog of minor geophysical characteristics for every planet visited in Star Wars. Right? Nope. I've underestimated the fandom. Wookieepeedia has just such a catalog, — Randall Munroe

I'm one of those people you can tell 'no' a million different ways, and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to figure out some way to get you to say 'yes.' People have always underestimated me. I have great stamina, great tenacity. — Morgan Fairchild

Then I thought about Adrian. My old friend who had killed himself. And this had been the last communication he had ever received from me. A libel on his character and an attempt to destroy the first and last love affair of his life. And when I had written that time would tell, I had underestimated, or rather miscalculated: time was telling not against them, it was telling against me. — Julian Barnes

I had the strong sensation that I'd underestimated my parents and their devotion to me. Of course they'd be on my side, whether they understood or not. That was just the kind of parents they were. — Bill Konigsberg

I think there has been this increasing misperception that kids will not respond to something because it's also for adults. I think that often that tends to get underestimated. — Christopher Nolan

At the social/political/ juridical, etc., level, the organizing principle was less to do with games and more to do with the nature of taboos - enormously powerful, often enormously arbitrary, and (crucially) regularly quietly broken, without undermining the fact of the taboo itself. That last element, I think, is sometimes underestimated in the discussions of cultural norms, where they are both asserted and breached. Both those elements are foundational.
- author interview — China Mieville

You have more control than I've given you credit for. I underestimated you, Muse. Yah think? — Pippa DaCosta

I think for the last fifteen, twenty years or so, Hollywood has underestimated the appeal of the Western. I think there is still a huge market. — Barry Corbin

I underestimated you, woman." ... "The cry of men down the ages. — David Gemmell

The benefits of becoming fluent in a foreign tongue are as underestimated as the difficulty is overestimated. Thousands of theoretical linguists will disagree, but I know from research and personal experimentation with more than a dozen languages that (1) adults can learn languages much faster than children when constant 9-5 work is removed and that (2) it is possible to become conversationally fluent in any language in six months or less. At four hours per day, six months can be whittled down to less than three months. — Tim Ferriss

I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity. — Pete Sampras

I think I underestimated the way people bracket you. — Sienna Miller