"Fame is the echo of actions, resounding them to the world, save that the echo repeats only the last part, but fame relates all, and often more than all."

"'Tis a petty kind of fame At best, that comes of making violins; And saves no masses, either. Thou wilt go To purgatory none the less."

"Fame then was cheap, and the first courier sped; And they have kept it since, by being dead."

"The Duke of Wellington brought to the post of first minister immortal fame; a quality of success which would almost seem to include all others."

"Who fears not to do ill yet fears the name, And free from conscience, is a slave to fame."

"What shall I do to be forever known, And make the age to come my own?"

"La vostra nominanza é color d'erba, Che viene e va; e quei la discolora Per cui ell' esce della terra acerba."

"Non é il mondam romore altro che un fiato Di vento, che vien quinci ed or vien quindi, E muta nome, perchè muta lato."

"The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it."

"Men the most infamous are fond of fame, And those who fear not guilt, yet start at shame."

"Scarcely two hundred years back can Fame recollect articulately at all; and there she but maunders and mumbles."

"Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property of a man."

"O Fame!—if I e'er took delight in thy praises, 'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases, Than to see the bright eyes of the dear one discover She thought that I was not unworthy to love her."

"Folly loves the martyrdom of fame."

"I awoke one morning and found myself famous."

"Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana; he is almost lost that built it."

"The best-concerted schemes men lay for fame, Die fast away: only themselves die faster. The far-fam'd sculptor, and the laurell'd bard, Those bold insurancers of deathless fame, Supply their little feeble aids in vain."

"Nothing can cover his high fame but Heaven: No pyramids set off his memories But the eternal substance of his greatness; To which I leave him."

"And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity."

"Were not this desire of fame very strong, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the danger of losing it when obtained, would be sufficient to deter a man from so vain a pursuit."

"A niche in the temple of Fame."

"One who seeks fame and thereby loses his real self is no gentleman."

"Fame is the shade of immortality, And in itself a shadow. Soon as caught, Contemn'd; it shrinks to nothing in the grasp."

"Wouldst thou be famed? have those high acts in view, Brave men would act though scandal would ensue."

"Men should press forward, in fame's glorious chase; Nobles look backward, and so lose the race."

"With fame, in just proportion, envy grows."

"In our overcrowded modern world a hit record, a best-selling book, a successful film, can reach more people in a week than Shakespeare or Beethoven reached in a whole lifetime. And so fame has become the most romantic, the most desirable of all commodities, the dream for which a modern Faust might sell his soul to the Devil. Once attained, fame is never as easy to hold on to as some people believe. The people who achieve fame by some accident of fashion are usually forgotten within a week; the ones who remain on top have to work to stay there. But few people understand this. The result is that anyone who achieves sudden notoriety arouses envy and hostility. The greater the success, the greater the reaction."

"There's not a thing on earth that I can name, So foolish, and so false, as common fame."

"The Fame that follows death is nothing to us; And what is Fame in life but half-disfame, And counterchanged with darkness?"

"Sweet were the days when I was all unknown, But when my name was lifted up, the storm Brake on the mountain and I cared not for it. Right well know I that Fame is half-disfame."

"Erant quibus appetentior famæ videretur, quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriæ novissima exuitur"

"Fame's a weed, but repute is a slow-growing oak, and all we can do during our lifetimes is hop around like squirrels and plant acorns."

"[B]eing famous or well known can be nice or it can be a burden, it all depends on how you look at it."

"Honor … means that a man is not exceptional; fame, that he is. Fame is something which must be won; honor, only something which must not be lost."

"Judas: Nazareth's most famous son Should have stayed a great unknown Like his father carving wood He'd have made good Table chairs and oaken chests Would have suited Jesus best He'd have caused nobody harm, no one alarm."

"If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin'd, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind: Or, ravish'd with the whistling of a name, See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting fame."

"What's fame? a fancy'd life in others' breath. A thing beyond us, e'en before our death."

"Unblemish'd let me live or die unknown; Oh, grant an honest fame, or grant me none!"

"Nor Fame I slight, nor her favors call; She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all."

"Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told; And all who told it, added something new, And all who heard it, made Enlargements too, In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew."

"Posthumous fame, book fame, nerd fame is not like the good kind of fame. It might last for centuries and let antique egg heads torture the young from the grave, but it just doesn't pay the bills."

"The courage to stand alone as if others didn't exist and think only of what you're doing. Not to get scared if people ignore you. You have to wait for years, have to die. Then after you're dead, if you're lucky, you become somebody."

"Fame is not creativity, it’s the industrial disease of creativity."

"I always like to say to people who want to be rich and famous, try being rich first. See if that doesn't cover most of it."

"Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows."

"Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days."

"The people who deserve the most respect and admiration get the least: scientists The people who deserve the least respect and admiration get the most: celebrities"

"Since when has mental illness ever interfered with superstardom? Since when has delusion impeded huge fame?"

"Si post fata venit gloria non propero."