It is true that it is better to be underrated by people than to be overrated by

them. It is also true that being highly admired and praisings a person invokes a
feeling of over confidence in that person which ultimately leads to their demis
e .
When we are overrated by people it is natural for those people to have certain e
xpectations from us. There is very much the possibility of not keeping up with t
heir expectation which might hurt their sentiments and break their trust in you.
While on the other hand, being underrated is comparitively advantageous to the
former. Being underrated motivates people to do better and since people look dow
n to them and thus leads to further development of their ailities and talents. A
lthough the sentiment involved is a bit discouraging and negative, being underra
ted safeguards you from breaking anyone's trust especially someone's who has tru
sted you all along and has also been by your side. Many illustrating examples ca
n be given to support this. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of histor
y, the man who changed the way people look down upon physics was often undermine
d for his inability to read and comprehend what was going in his class. He inqui
red about why he needed to learn facts and why couldn't he just know the reason
the particular incident took place. He was often underestimated and thought to b
e lazy by most of his collegues and teachers, and his abilities in Maths and Sci
ence were often underrated by the teachers and remained conspicous and unrecogni
zed for a considerable long time untl he established himself as the greatest min
ds in history by giving the legendary "Theory of Relativity" and concepts of Mas
s and energy equivalence.
Another mind blowing example is of the most famous and ingenius painter of all t
ime. This particular person continues to inspire young painters even now long af
ter his death. Yes, I speak of none other than the legendary Leonardo Da Vinci w
ho painted some of the most popular paintings of the world like "The Mona Lisa"
and "The Last Supper" the mysteries of which still continue to puzzle cryptograp
hers and paintists. This inspiring celebrity, although hard to believe, suffered
from a mental condition known as Dyslexia which is inability to read and unders
tand things written in books. Although he was always looked down and underestima
ted even by his own family he made the first successful design of the "Helicopte
r" decades before it's actual invention which took the world into a state of sho
ck and awe.
Concluding this I would just say that people might think of themselves as too hi
gh if they are too overrrated whereas being underrated pushes people to the limi
ts and brings out the true talents and latent abilities that needed motivation i
n order to be expressed.