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

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.

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

All people have the common desire to be elevated in honor, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.

Fame is but the empty noise of madmen.

We all have a contract with the public—in us they see themselves, or what they would like to be.

Those who know the joys and miseries of celebrities when they have passed the age of forty know how to defend themselves.

I’m afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.

I am sick and tired of publicity. I want no more of it. It puts me in a bad light. I just want to be forgotten.

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

A woman’s greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill.

When I do a show, the whole show revolves around me, and if I don’t show up, they can just forget it.

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