Suppose your candidate for fame pursues unremittingly the object of his love, through every difficulty and over every obstacle, till at last he overtakes her ladyship, and is permitted to kiss the hem of her garment on mount immortality, what will the dear-bought damsel boot him? If he take her to his bosom, she has no flesh and blood to warm it. If he taste of her lip, there is no more nectar in it than there are sunbeams in a cucumber.—Every rascal who has been bold and fearless enough, Nimrod, Cataline, and Tom Paine, all have had a smack at her before him: They have all more or less become famous, and will be remembered much longer than better men.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
Fame is an illusive thing—here today, gone tomorrow. The fickle, shallow mob raises its heroes to the pinnacle of approval today and hurls them into oblivion tomorrow at the slightest whim; cheers today, hisses tomorrow; utter forgetfulness in a few months.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Fame—a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not to be depended on.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Each man has his appointed day: short and irreparable in the brief life of all, but to extend our fame by our deeds, this is the work of mankind.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
It’s too bad I’m not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a few people like that.
—Alan Alda (b.1936) American Actor, TV Personality, Screenwriter
Do we really want to know how Michael Jackson makes his music? No. We want to understand why he needs the bones of the Elephant Man—and, until he tells us, it doesn’t make too much difference whether or not he really is bad.
—Frank Zappa (1940–93) American Rock Guitarist, Singer, Composer
The strongest poison ever known came from Caesar’s laurel crown.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Fame is fickle and I know it. It has its compensations, but it also has its drawbacks and I’ve experienced them both.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Life is too short for theatrics, for face time, for jumping through hoops, for excuses, for blaming, for trying too hard to please others, or for chasing society’s illusion of distant riches or fame.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few; and that, too, at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Life is a warfare and a stranger’s sojourn, and after fame is oblivion.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
No memory of having starred atones for later disregard, or keeps the end from being hard.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
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
Fame is not the glory; virtue is the goal, and fame only a messenger to bring more to the fold.
—Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American Novelist, Poet, Actress
Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
In accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity, in founding a family or a state, or acquiring fame even, we are mortal; but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need fear no change nor accident.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The wise man thinks of fame just enough to avoid being despised.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
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
I am not covetous for gold; but if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn’t know.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
I courted fame but as a spur to brave and honest deeds; who despises fame wil soon renounce the virtues that deserve it.
—David Mallet (c.1705–1765) Scottish Poet, Dramatist
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
I’m afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Love of fame is the last thing even learned men can bear to be parted from.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
I awoke one morning and found myself famous.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
I want to be famous everywhere.
—Luciano Pavarotti (1935–2007) Italian Operatic Tenor
The professional celebrity, male and female, is the crowning result of the star system of a society that makes a fetish of competition. In America, this system is carried to the point where a man who can knock a small white ball into a series of holes in the ground with more efficiency than anyone else thereby gains social access to the President of the United States.
—C. Wright Mills (1916–62) American Sociologist, Academic
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
What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet