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

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

Fame will go by and, so long, I’ve had you, fame. If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle. So at least it’s something I experienced, but that’s not where I live.

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

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

I won’t be happy till I’m as famous as God.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Famous, adj. Conspicuously miserable.