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Quotes

Fame is but the empty noise of madmen.

—Epictetus, c. 100

Most authors seek fame, but I seek for justice—a holier impulse than ever entered into the ambitious struggles of the votaries of that fickle, flirting goddess.

—Davy Crockett, 1834

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.

—Al Capone, 1929

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

—Petrarch, 1337

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it.

—Martial, c. 86

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

—Pericles, c. 450 BC

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.

—Albert Einstein, 1931

There 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, 1763

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

—Martin Luther, c. 1530

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

—Dante Alighieri, c. 1315

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

—Cato the Elder, c. 184 BC

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

—Voltaire, 1723

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

—Ethel Merman, c. 1955