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.

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. 

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

Fame is no sanctuary from the passing of youth. Suicide is much easier and more acceptable in Hollywood than growing old gracefully.

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.

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

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

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

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

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

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

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

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