New Delhi, July 6 -- "To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great." - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

'What will people say?' is probably the biggest obstacle in achieving anything big in life. It's the same emotion reflected in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's quote.

Hegel did not write this line as self-help advice. He wrote it as a philosopher mapping the conditions under which genuine greatness becomes possible. The sentence is precise and uncompromising. It does not say public opinion is unimportant. It says dependence on it is disqualifying. That is a harder and more specific claim. And it has not aged a single day.

The quote identifies a structural problem, not a personality flaw. D...