Who Would Have Thought?

Credits to the owner of the image.

They are famous names. Icons in their field. But who would have thought that before they became big names...

Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. He was defeated in every public office role he ran for. 

Thomas Edison's teachers told him he was "too stupid to learn anything. 

The Beatles - rejected by a record company and told “they have no future in show business.” 

Harland David Sanders, the famous KFC "Colonel," couldn't sell his chicken. More than 1,000 restaurants rejected him. 

Charles M. Schulz’ drawings were rejected by his high school yearbook. 

R.H. Macy had a history failing businesses, including a dud Macy's in NYC. 

Charlie Chaplin's act was rejected by executives because they thought it was too obscure for people to understand. 

Soichiro Honda was passed over for an engineering job at Toyota and left unemployed. 

Vera Wang failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure-skating team. Then she became an editor at Vogue and was passed over for the editor-in-chief position. 

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas." 

Albert Einstein didn't speak until age four and didn't read until age seven. His teachers labeled him "slow" and "mentally handicapped." 

Charles Darwin was considered an average student. He gave up on a career in medicine and was going to school to become a parson. 

Sir Isaac Newton was tasked with running the family farm but was a miserable failure. 

While developing his vacuum, Sir James Dyson went through 5,126 failed prototypes and his savings over 15 years. 

J.K. Rowling was unemployed, divorced and raising a daughter on social security while writing the first Harry Potter novel.

Stephen King was initially so frustrated with his first novel, Carrie that he threw it in the trash.

The first time Jerry Seinfeld went onstage, he was booed away by the jeering crowd.

In Fred Astaire's first screen test, the judges wrote: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." 

After Sidney Poitier's first audition, the casting director instructed him to just stop wasting everyone's time and "go be a dishwasher or something." 

Oprah Winfrey was fired from her television reporting job because they told her she wasn't fit to be on screen.

Lucille Ball spent many years on the B-list and her agent told her to pursue a new career. 

After his first film, Harrison Ford underwhelmed the producer and was told he would probably never succeed. 

Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life, to a friend. 

Dr. Seuss' first book was rejected by 27 different publishers. 

Henry Ford's first auto company went out of business. 

Steven Spielberg was rejected from his dream school, the University of Southern California, three times.