Riches: A dream in the night. Fame: A gull floating on water.
—Chinese Proverb
Fame comes only when deserved, and then is as inevitable as destiny, for it is destiny.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The temple of fame stands upon the grave; the flame upon its altars is kindled from the ashes of the dead.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Fame is something that must be won. Honor is something that must not be lost.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
The easiest kind of relationship is with ten thousand people, the hardest is with one.
—Joan Baez (b.1941) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
The thirst for an enduring fame is near akin to the love of true excellence; but the fame of the moment is a dangerous possession and a bastard motive; and he who does his acts in order that the echo of them may come back as a soft music in his ears, plays false to his noble destiny as a Christian man, places himself in continual danger of dallying with wrong, and taints even his virtuous actions at their source.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) English Liberal Statesman, Prime Minister
Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer acquaintance with him; and we seldom hear of a celebrated person without a catalogue of some of his weaknesses and infirmities.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Immortality is not a gift, Immortality is an achievement; And only those who strive mightily Shall possess it.
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) American Poet, Novelist
Fortune is no real thing.
But men who cannot bear what comes to them
In Nature’s way, give their own characters
The name of Fortune.
—Menander (c.343–c.291 BCE) Greek Comic Dramatist, Poet
Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Life levels all men: death reveals the eminent.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
I awoke one morning and found myself famous.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Those who despise fame seldom deserve it.—We are apt to undervalue the purchase we cannot reach, to conceal our poverty the better.—It is a spark that kindles upon the best fuel, and bums brightest in the bravest breast.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.
—Andy Warhol (1928–87) American Painter, Printmaker, Film Personality
The present condition of fame is merely fashion.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Time has a doomsday book, on whose pages he is continually recording illustrious names.—But as often as a new name is written there, an old one disappears.—Only a few stand in illuminated characters never to be effaced.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Let us satisfy our own consciences, and trouble not ourselves by looking for fame. If we deserve it, we shall attain it: if we deserve it not we cannot force it. The praise bad actions obtain dies soon away; if good deeds are at first unworthily received, they are afterward more properly appreciated.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
It quite often happens. A man bounds into sudden success, becomes obsessed by vanity, builds or buys a palace-and then has to close up the palace. The latest example is Clarence Saunders, who founded the Piggly Wiggly stores, launched a company, gathered in a lot of money, started building a million dollar home, tried to fight Wall Street at its own game of speculating in stocks, gloried in having cornered his stock, lost out, and now makes this announcement concerning his palace now under construction at Memphis: “I am going to nail up the place and lock the gates until I can make the money to complete it”.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
‘Tis the white stag, Fame, we’re a-hunting, bid the world’s hounds come to horn!
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
Death makes no conquest of this conqueror: For now he lives in fame, though not in life.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The love of glory gives an immense stimulus.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
Fame is an undertaker that pays but little attention to the living, but bedizens the dead, furnishes out their funerals, and follows them to the grave.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Few people rise to our esteem upon closer scrutiny.
—French Proverb
Let us not disdain glory too much; nothing is finer, except virtue. The height of happiness would be to unite both in this life.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
It’s all fleeting. As fame is fleeting, so are all the trappings of fame fleeting. The money, the clothes, the furniture.
—Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American Country Music Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist
I must say, I don’t feel very qualified to be a pop star. I feel very awkward at times in the role.
—Edward de Bono (1933–2021) Maltese-British Psychologist, Writer
There is only one way to get ready for immortality, and that is to love this life and live it as bravely and faithfully and cheerfully as we can.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
May the countryside and the gliding valley streams content me. Lost to fame, let me love river and woodland.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet