How sweet it is to have people point and say, “There he is.”

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Fame is but the empty noise of madmen.

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

Famous, adj. Conspicuously miserable.

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

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