We all have a contract with the public—in us they see themselves, or what they would like to be.
—Clark Gable, 1935Quotes
He who treats another human being as divine thereby assigns to himself the relative status of a child or an animal.
—E. R. Dodds, 1951Fame is no sanctuary from the passing of youth. Suicide is much easier and more acceptable in Hollywood than growing old gracefully.
—Julie Burchill, 1986There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891Happy is the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell!
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1843They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.
—Martin Luther, c. 1530Possessions, 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.
—Albert Einstein, 1931There lurks in every human heart a desire of distinction which inclines every man first to hope and then to believe that nature has given him something peculiar to himself.
—Samuel Johnson, 1763If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it.
—Martial, c. 86Those who know the joys and miseries of celebrities when they have passed the age of forty know how to defend themselves.
—Sarah Bernhardt, 1904I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.
—Cato the Elder, c. 184 BCAvoid the talk of men. For talk is mischievous, light, and easily raised, but hard to bear and difficult to be rid of. Talk never wholly dies away when many people voice her: even talk is in some ways divine.
—Hesiod, c. 700 BCI won’t be happy till I’m as famous as God.
—Madonna, c. 1985