Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, now that, and changes names as it changes in direction.

Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.

And what will history say of me a thousand years hence?

Men are generally more pleased with a widespread than with a great reputation.

What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.

Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it, and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.

Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury—to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

Famous, adj. Conspicuously miserable.

He who treats another human being as divine thereby assigns to himself the relative status of a child or an animal.

They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.