All people have the common desire to be elevated in honor, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.
—Mencius, c. 330 BC
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Quotes
Fame is but the empty noise of madmen.
—Epictetus, c. 100And what will history say of me a thousand years hence?
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 59 BCReality is always the foe of famous names.
—Petrarch, 1337How sweet it is to have people point and say, “There he is.”
—Persius, c. 60I won’t be happy till I’m as famous as God.
—Madonna, c. 1985