78 Quotes About Fame

In a world increasingly influenced by social media and the allure of the spotlight, the concept of fame has never been more complex or captivating. From the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to the more subtle recognition of everyday heroes, fame takes on many forms and evokes a wide range of emotions and reflections. Whether it is viewed as a coveted achievement or a fleeting illusion, fame has been the muse for countless individuals, inspiring thought-provoking insights and memorable words. Dive into our curated collection of 78 quotes about fame, where celebrities, philosophers, and thinkers share their enlightening, humorous, and sometimes cautionary tales about life in the limelight. Explore what it truly means to be famous and how these words resonate with our personal understanding of recognition and influence in the modern age.

1. “I finished my first book seventy-six years ago. I offered it to every publisher on the English-speaking earth I had ever heard of. Their refusals were unanimous: and it did not get into print until, fifty years later; publishers would publish anything that had my name on it.” - George Bernard Shaw

2. “I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.” - Neil Gaiman

3. “For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not weigh too nicely the perils of war."[Funeral Oration of Pericles]” - Thucydides

4. “You haven't lived until you've basked in the adoration of people.” - Jerry Spinelli

5. “I have been to lots of partiesand acted perfectly disgracefulbut I never actually collapsedoh Lana Turner we love you get up” - Frank O'Hara

6. “Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

7. “An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.” - Andy Warhol

8. “Fame means millions of people have the wrong idea of who you are.” - Erica Jong

9. “The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

10. “The fame of his likes circulates briskly but soon grows heavy and stale; and as for history it will limit his life story to the dash between two dates.” - Vladimir Nabokov

11. “To hold power has always meant to manipulate idiots and circumstances; and those circumstances and those idiots, tossed together, bring about those coincidences to which even the greatest men confess they owe most of their fame” - Alfred de Vigny

12. “What a waste of time to be posthumously famous.” - Orson Scott Card

13. “It seems obvious, looking back, that the artists of Weimar Germany and Leninist Russia lived in a much more attenuated landscape of media than ours, and their reward was that they could still believe, in good faith and without bombast, that art could morally influence the world. Today, the idea has largely been dismissed, as it must in a mass media society where art's principal social role is to be investment capital, or, in the simplest way, bullion. We still have political art, but we have no effective political art. An artist must be famous to be heard, but as he acquires fame, so his work accumulates 'value' and becomes, ipso-facto, harmless. As far as today's politics is concerned, most art aspires to the condition of Muzak. It provides the background hum for power.” - Robert Hughes

14. “Fame is a form - perhaps the worst form - of incomprehension.” - Jorge Luis Borges

15. “Raise your children to love and embrace others. Tell them they are beautiful; they may grow up to be stars one day, and "beautiful" will never mean as much in a magazine as it will coming from you.” - Kaiden Blake

16. “Fame Imperishable and glory that will never die -- that is what we march for!” - Steven Pressfield

17. “I'm bored with that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is "In 15 minutes everybody will be famous.” - Andy Warhol

18. “Dying is the fastest route to fame for an aspiring rock star. The dead man’s melodies become profound, acquiring mystery and rising into a realm beyond the reach of human criticism. In the stopping of a heartbeat, the rocker is transformed from decadent hedonist into misunderstood genius. Aye, death and musical stardom go together like Scotland and rain.” - Mark Rice

19. “I want to change the world, and do something valuable and beautiful. I want people to remember me before I'm dead, and then more afterwards.” - Russell Brand

20. “The thoughts of othersWere light and fleeting,Of lovers' meetingOr luck or fame.Mine were of trouble,And mine were steady;So I was readyWhen trouble came.” - A.E. Housman

21. “I'm already crazy. I'm a fearless person. I think it creeps up on you. I don't think it can be stopped. If my destiny is to lose my mind because of fame, then that's my destiny. But my passion still means more than anything.” - Lady Gaga

22. “Foolish names and foolish faces often appear in public places.” - Curtis Sittenfeld

23. “Of course, they were other things too. Sometimes they were even everything all together, but not fame, which was rooted in delusion and lies, if not ambition. Also, fame was reductive. Everything that ended in fame and everything that issued from fame was inevitably diminished. Fame's message was unadorned. Fame and literature were irreconcilable enemies.” - Roberto Bolaño

24. “The line between the public life and the private life has been erased, due to the rapid decline of manners and courtesy. There is a certain crudeness and crassness that has suddenly become accepted behavior, even desirable.” - Fannie Flagg

25. “I had a boyfriend who told me I’d never succeed, never be nominated for a Grammy, never have a hit song, and that he hoped I’d fail. I said to him, ‘Someday, when we’re not together, you won’t be able to order a cup of coffee at the fucking deli without hearing or seeing me.” - Lady Gaga

26. “I'm an instant star, just add water.” - David Bowie

27. “Going down in history is a dead end pursuit” - Benny Bellamacina

28. “It'd be great to be so famous that if I murder someone, I will never, ever, ever serve any jail time, even if it's totally obvious to everyone that I did it.” - Mindy Kaling

29. “You just wait. I'm going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.” - Bruce Lee

30. “Being famous is wicked, but being normal is better.” - Rupert Grint

31. “It seems, in fact, that the more advanced a society is, the greater will be its interest in ruined things, for it will see in them a redemptively sobering reminder of the fragility of its own achievements. Ruins pose a direct challenge to our concern with power and rank, with bustle and fame. They puncture the inflated folly of our exhaustive and frenetic pursuit of wealth.” - Alain De Botton

32. “[The Old Astronomer to His Pupil]Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of howWe are working to completion, working on from then to now.Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn,You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn,What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and smiles;What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.You may tell that German College that their honor comes too late,But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate.Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.What, my boy, you are not weeping? You should save your eyes for sight;You will need them, mine observer, yet for many another night.I leave none but you, my pupil, unto whom my plans are known.You 'have none but me,' you murmur, and I 'leave you quite alone'?Well then, kiss me, -- since my mother left her blessing on my brow,There has been a something wanting in my nature until now;I can dimly comprehend it, -- that I might have been more kind,Might have cherished you more wisely, as the one I leave behind.I 'have never failed in kindness'? No, we lived too high for strife,--Calmest coldness was the error which has crept into our life;But your spirit is untainted, I can dedicate you stillTo the service of our science: you will further it? you will!There are certain calculations I should like to make with you,To be sure that your deductions will be logical and true;And remember, 'Patience, Patience,' is the watchword of a sage,Not to-day nor yet to-morrow can complete a perfect age.I have sown, like Tycho Brahe, that a greater man may reap;But if none should do my reaping, 'twill disturb me in my sleepSo be careful and be faithful, though, like me, you leave no name;See, my boy, that nothing turn you to the mere pursuit of fame.I must say Good-bye, my pupil, for I cannot longer speak;Draw the curtain back for Venus, ere my vision grows too weak:It is strange the pearly planet should look red as fiery Mars,--God will mercifully guide me on my way amongst the stars.” - Sarah Williams

33. “Well, I wasn't going to abuse him. I was only going to ask: Is there any quality which distinguishes his work from that of twenty struggling writers one could name? Of course not. He's a clever, prolific man; so are they. But he began with money and friends; he came from Oxford into the thick of advertised people; his name was mentioned in print six times a week before he had written a dozen articles. This kind of thing will become the rule. Men won't succeed in literature that they may get into society, but will get into society that they may succeed in literature.” - George Gissing

34. “I shall bere your noble fame, for ye spake a grete worde and fulfilled it worshipfully.” - Thomas Malory

35. “Don’t overact the story of your name. Overact the story of your work.” - Karl Lagerfield

36. “I will not be "famous," "great." I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one's self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.” - Virginia Woolf

37. “Famous Harry Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go to a bookshop without making the front page.” - J.K. Rowling

38. “Je ne dois qu'à moi seul toute ma renommée."(L'Excuse à Ariste)” - Pierre Corneille

39. “If I blow my nose, it gets written all over the world.” - Audrey Hepburn

40. “Many of the younger generation know my name in a vague way and connect it with grotesque inventions, but don't believe that I ever existed as a person. They think I am a nonperson, just a name that signifies a tangled web of pipes or wires or strings that suggest machinery. My name to them is like a spiral staircase, veal cutlets, barber's itch—terms that give you an immediate picture of what they mean.” - Rube Goldberg

41. “Fame is not the glory! Virtue is the goal, and fame only a messenger, to bring more to the fold.” - Vanna Bonta

42. “Being famous is like a little bit of you is taken away and goes off and lives on its own and does what it wants... I wish it would do more interesting things!” - Russell Brand

43. “God rewards every act of obedience to His Will.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

44. “Dare to be different. Represent your maker well and you will forever abide in the beautiful embrace of his loving arms.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

45. “Another way of remaining in intimacy with God is by remaining in His presence.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

46. “The presence of God is so important in the life of believers. There is abundance of all you need to make your life comfortable in His presence.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

47. “What's fame, after all? It can be what someone writes on your tombstone.” - Peter Duncan

48. “We're famous" iggy whispered so low that Fang could barely hear him."So's Swine Flu" Fang whispered back.” - James Patterson

49. “I ran across an excerpt today (in English translation) of some dialogue/narration from the modern popular writer, Paulo Coelho in his book: Aleph.(Note: bracketed text is mine.)... 'I spoke to three scholars,' [the character says 'at last.'] ...two of them said that, after death, the [sic (misprint, fault of the publisher)] just go to Paradise. The third one, though, told me to consult some verses from the Koran. [end quote]' ...I can see that he's excited. [narrator]' ...Now I have many positive things to say about Coelho: He is respectable, inspiring as a man, a truth-seeker, and an appealing writer; but one should hesitate to call him a 'literary' writer based on this quote. A 'literary' author knows that a character's excitement should be 'shown' in his or her dialogue and not in the narrator's commentary on it. Advice for Coelho: Remove the 'I can see that he's excited' sentence and show his excitement in the phrasing of his quote.(Now, in defense of Coelho, I am firmly of the opinion, having myself written plenty of prose that is flawed, that a novelist should be forgiven for slipping here and there.)Lastly, it appears that a belief in reincarnation is of great interest to Mr. Coelho ... Just think! He is a man who has achieved, (as Leonard Cohen would call it), 'a remote human possibility.' He has won lots of fame and tons of money. And yet, how his preoccupation with reincarnation—none other than an interest in being born again as somebody else—suggests that he is not happy!” - Roman Payne

50. “If you desire the path of sincerity, develop a love for obscurity. Flee from the clatter and clinks of fame. Be like the roots of a tree; it keeps the tree upright and gives it life, but it itself is hidden underneath the earth and eyes cannot see it.” - Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak

51. “No, no," said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us," he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it.” - Lloyd Alexander

52. “How do you judge the brightness of a light when you’re the source? A spotlight can never see the shadows it casts.” - Neal Shusterman

53. “I’m famous. Ain’t that a bitch?” - Thelonious Monk

54. “Fame and fortune are calling. Are we taking the call or blocking the number?” - Nicole Richie

55. “People don't follow ordinary people; they follow extraordinary people.” - Enock Maregesi

56. “My goal is not to have everlasting fame, it is simply to write the stories that are asking me to write them and to share them with the people that want to hear them.” - Elizabeth Hernandez

57. “Fame is a funny thing, like a secret, both are hard to keep.” - Richard Peck

58. “When emerging from humble beginnings, those around you tend to underestimate your authenticity because they knew you before you were 'somebody'.” - Criss Jami

59. “He came face-to-face with the rude paradox fame had dealt him: The secret of his extraordinary art had been his ability to observe human interaction anonymously, thereby gaining insight into the emotions on display in ordinary life--it was his ability to become a fly-on-the-wall that made him famous, and fame had destroyed his ability to become a fly-on-the-wall.” - C R Strahan

60. “That anyone would want to be famous still mystified Colin. As TV had trained him to do, he associated the word with divorces and court appearances and rehab and jail time. He knew more than he wanted about all of those except rehab, and that was the one famous people blew off anyway.” - Harry Turtledove

61. “Today’s generation didn’t want to watch ancient actors reciting the same tired lines. They wanted to see themselves reflected onscreen –rude, raw, entitled. These kids needed to believe that they themselves were only one daring, controversial act away from being up on that screen themselves. ” - Melissa Jo Peltier

62. “I reached into the pile and pulled out a few connected chips and then was about to shove them into my mouth, when I saw what appeared to be the face of an angel sitting next to me. And, if it was in fact my actual guardian angel, then it probably would have been poor form not to offer a few chips to extend an olive branch.” - Phil Wohl

63. “Ride higher in life unto the higher life.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

64. “Don`t descend to the lowest ebb.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

65. “Move forward for forward is progress but circles are movement.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

66. “It turns out horrendous when you choose the wrong options.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

67. “Decide to be rich! Hate poverty strong.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

68. “There is seed time and harvest, choose to sow at the right time so as to have a bountiful harvest.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

69. “Avoid conflicts, Embrace cordiality.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

70. “Eschew evil and it`s machinations.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

71. “Have the best course for all your actions.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

72. “Drown those degrading thoughts.” - Agu Jaachynma N E

73. “Shun darkness and evil vices for they that embrace them wear off with time!” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

74. “Desire to give and not always receive.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

75. “Desire to impact lives! Change destinies and make dreams come true.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu

76. “Fame and recognition break all scandals; if I were a prostitute I would have chosen to be a famous one.” - M.F. Moonzajer

77. “Because personally I think mattering is a piss-poor idea. I just want to fly under the radar, because when you start to make yourself into a big deal, that’s when you get shot down. The bigger a deal you are, the worse your life is.” - John Green

78. “Try not to be a man or woman of success, but rather a man or woman of inspiration. If you’re successful, they will flock to you for money or fame, but if you’re inspirational, they will flock to you because they love your soul and how you change theirs.” - Shannon L. Alder