The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

I am a ridiculous person. Now they call me a madman. That would be a promotion if it were not that I remain as ridiculous in their eyes as before. But now I do not resent it, they are all dear to me now, even when they laugh at me–-and, indeed, it is just then that they are particularly dear to me. I could join in their laughter–-not exactly at myself, but through affection for them, if I did not feel so sad as I look at them. Sad because they do not know the truth and I do know it.

- Taken from "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky